Julio 27, 2007

Phil - State of Human Rights: Death toll now 885, disappearances now 183

Karapatan in Southern Mindanao condemns in the highest terms today the continued spate of killings in the wake of the efforts of the Supreme Court-led summit to work measures that would defend and protect human rights.

Since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assumed office in 2001, the victims of extrajudicial killings has reached 885 while enforced disappearances or desaparecidos now stand at 183.

The escalation of human rights abuses shows only that the government and its state security forces not only have no respect for existing humanitarian laws but are also bent in keeping a political atmosphere where dissent and redress of grievances can cause one's life or liberty.

The victims and their families may not see justice any time soon, as Arroyo has consistently made no effort to resolve the alarming rights abuses. Even in her SONA, she has not recognized the fact that the country has become the second most dangerous country for journalists and perhaps even to oppositionists. Worse, there was no mention of or how the government can put an end to the escalating number of victims.

Of course, Gloria Arroyo will never take an active stance to resolve these human rights violations because it is her administration that is the main perpetrator. She needs to silence dissent and rid all critics of her anti-people administration in order to continue to perpetuate herself in power.

We lambast Arroyo's statement that the so-called "development" particularly here in Mindanao could only be achieved if and only if the people will give chance and support the full implementation of Human Security Act as what her administration and minions' bragging.

This declaration of hers is just a desperate, deceptive and defective effort to win over the sympathy of the people to easily give Human Security Act a chance. It is hard to believe by saying so to a president which has no credibility at all and no further political will to resolve extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances,

Julio 6, 2007

Phil - SC slates summit on extrajudicial killings

The Supreme Court is set to hold a summit on extrajudicial killings in mid-July in a bid to come up with solutions to put an end to senseless killings.

According to a statement Friday from the high tribunal, representatives from the three branches of the government will participate in the National Consultative Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances – Searching for Solutions on July 16-17 at the Manila Hotel.

Representatives from the executive and legislative departments, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police and the Commission on Human Rights, media, academe, civil society and other stakeholders will be among the participants in the two-day summit. Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno will give the keynote speech and closing remarks.

The summit is aimed at searching for wholistic solutions and providing inputs to the Supreme Court in its objective of enhancing existing rules, or promulgating new ones, in the protection and enforcement of constitutional rights, including the protection of the witnesses.

Likewise, it aims to examine the concept of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances pursuant to the standards provided for by local and international laws, including United Nations instruments.

The summit also aims to revisit the rules of evidence and to explore more remedies for the aggrieved parties aside from the writ of habeas corpus.

During the first day of the summit, the speakers will present their respective papers comprising significant inputs from their respective sectors.

On the second day, the participants will break out into 12 groups and take part in a workshop. Each breakout group will be chaired by a Supreme Court Associate Justice.

Local and international observers will be accredited. They will include members of the diplomatic corps and representatives from various international organizations.

The summit highlight will be a plenary session where each of the 12 groups shall report to the body their recommended resolutions. The reports and proposals will be synthesized and then transmitted to the concerned government agencies for appropriate action.

In March, the Supreme Court designated about a hundred Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) nationwide to hear, try, and decide cases involving killings of judges, political activists, and members of the media.

A total of 23 RTCs have been designated special courts in the National Judicial Capital Region (NCJR), while a total of 76 RTCs in the 12 Judicial Regions were likewise designated as Special Courts.

Puno has said the creation of Special Courts to resolve extrajudicial killings is high on the judiciary’s priority list. He made the announcement even before Malacañang made public the findings of the Independent Commission to Address Media and Activists Killings, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, confirming the extrajudicial killings of political activists and members of the media. - GMANews.TV

Junio 29, 2007

Rights Group Accuses Philippine Army of Abuses Against Leftists

MANILA, June 28 — The Philippine military has been waging a “dirty war” against leftists that has resulted in the death or disappearance of hundreds of Filipino activists, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

In a report, the group said that the government had failed to prosecute members of the armed forces implicated in the killings and that witnesses were afraid to testify, contributing to “official impunity.”

Human Rights Watch, based in New York, also said that measures by the government to deal with the killings had been largely unsuccessful and that the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had consistently failed to uphold international human rights law.

The report came a few days after a Philippine newspaper quoted unidentified generals who contended that they had been present at meetings in which a military policy that involved the assassination of leftists was discussed.

An investigation in February by a United Nations human rights envoy, Philip G. Alston, blamed the military for the killings. A commission created this year by Ms. Macapagal-Arroyo reached the same conclusion.

The government also created special courts to try such cases but witnesses have been afraid to speak out.

The armed forces said the Human Rights Watch report was unfair and one-sided. “We categorically deny the allegations that there is a dirty war being waged by the armed forces of the Philippines, particularly against the leftist groups,” Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, a military spokesman, said Thursday.

Though he conceded that some military elements might have been involved in such killings, Colonel Bacarro said, “It is not a policy to commit extrajudicial activities.”

Sophie Richardson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia program, said, “There is strong evidence of a ‘dirty war’ by the armed forces against left-leaning activists and journalists.” She said, “The failure to prosecute soldiers or police suspected in these killings shifts the spotlight of responsibility to the highest levels of the government.”

The report said the killings “appeared to shift into a higher gear” in February 2006, after several leftist groups were accused of participating in a coup plot led by renegade members of the military. The report also said that around the same time, Ms. Arroyo also ordered an “all-out war” against Communists.

Karapatan, a Philippine human rights group, some of whose members have been killed, has documented nearly 900 cases of what it describes as extrajudicial killings. There has also been a recent spate of abductions of leftists, some of whose bodies were later found.

The military denies that it goes after unarmed activists, insisting that the killings have been carried out by the Communists themselves as part of a long-running purge.

But Human Rights Watch said that while the rebel New People’s Army continued to violate human rights, its investigation did not uncover evidence of the rebels’ participation in any of the killings.

The group urged Ms. Macapagal-Arroyo to issue an executive order prohibiting extrajudicial killing and called on the United States to suspend military assistance to the Philippines until members of the armed forces those implicated in the killings were prosecuted.

“Actions speak louder than words, and the only real proof of the government’s commitment to end these killings will be when the perpetrators are finally held to account in a court of law,” the group said.

Junio 28, 2007

Phil - Search continues for 'desaparecidos'

By MARIA ALETA O. NIEVA
abs-cbnNEWS.com

Stories have been told about mothers, fathers, sisters or brothers fervently searching, practically not leaving any stones unturned, for their loved ones who had been victims of involuntary disappearance.

Like a broken record playing over and over again, the search never seemed to stop as new names were added to the long list of victims every year.

Justice was not served to families whose members are still missing because the perpetrators of the crime of involuntary disappearance, considered as the "most cruel" form of human rights violation, remain unpunished.

The commemoration of the International Week of the Disappeared from May 26-June 1 was highlighted with the recent abduction of an agriculturist and a pastor.

Jonas Burgos, a son of the late press freedom fighter Jose Burgos, was abducted by a group of men while eating at a restaurant inside a mall in Quezon City on April 28.

Prior to his abduction, Burgos was giving seminars on organic farming to peasants in Bulacan.

His disappearance sparked protest not only in the Philippines but also abroad.

Berlin Guerrero, on the other hand, was snatched after officiating Mass in Biñan, Laguna. A group of men forcibly took Guerrero despite protests from his family who demanded a warrant of arrest from his captors.

Guerrero, a member of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines, was traced to a police headquarters in Cavite where charges for murder and inciting to sedition were filed against him.

The pastor had served as the secretary-general of the leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

His wife said the pastor bore signs of torture marks to the body when she visited him. She said that her husband told her that policemen placed a plastic bag over his face to suffocate him.

Burgos and Guerrero are but two of the hundreds of cases of involuntary disappearance in the country.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) reported that more than 700 cases have been documented since President Arroyo assumed office in 2001.

Bacalso said that most of the disappeared were alleged members or sympathizers of communist rebels while others were taken "just for fun."

"Sa ngayon mas maraming cases under Gloria even if hindi siya ganoon katagal. Kahit may change of administration since Marcos…the same military pa rin. Wala talagang change of system," said Bacalso.

According to the October 2006 statistics of the group called Families of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), the sector which had the highest number of victims are the farmers and workers. Third and fourth in the rank are the youth and women’s sectors.

Mary Ghuy Portajada, spokeswoman for the human rights group Desaparecidos said that 186 people have been reported missing since 2001 up to the present. Fifteen of these cases were reported from January-April this year.

Of the number, nine have been surfaced alive while four, including two students from Bicol who only brought food to poll watchers, were found dead.

Desaparecidos is a Spanish term for "disappeared." These are individuals abducted by a group of people, in many cases, by units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, the families of the victims said.

Those who surfaced alive recounted how they were subjected to torture. But others have not been lucky to be reunited with their families as they were summarily executed and their cadavers’ locations are still unknown.

Central Luzon and Eastern Visayas are two of the regions with the highest number of involuntary disappearance of human rights volunteers, youth and farmers.

The trend is becoming more alarming citing the case of Burgos who was abducted while inside the Ever Gotesco mall in Commonwealth, Quezon City.

In the case of Burgos’s disappearance, his family suspects the military was behind the incident particularly after a vehicle license plate (TAB 194) used in the abduction was traced to another vehicle impounded at the 56th Infantry Battalion in Norzagaray, Bulacan last year.

Jose Luis Burgos, Burgos's younger brother, said the family initially called for a press conference to inform the media about his brother’s disappearance and to issue an appeal to those who might have information that would lead his family to his whereabouts.

Last month, the Burgos family, members of the Free Jonas Burgos Movement and other concerned agencies staged a peaceful protest in front of Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City to urge the military to surface Jonas.

However, the military answered their appeal by playing songs at full volume and even pushed the families of desaparecidos away.

AFAD recently held the commemoration rites for the International Week of the Disappeared at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City attended by around 80 people mostly by representatives of the diplomatic communities, their country members and families of the victims.

Bacalso said that AFAD offers direct economic assistance to families of desaparecidos.

She urged the government to act to stop disappearances and enact national laws punishing perpetrators of forced disappearance.

FIND said that involuntary disappearance is not yet considered a crime under Philippine laws and that cases are filed in court as kidnapping, murder or serious illegal detention or combination of the last two crimes.

AFAD considers the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance as a major source of strength. They call on all Asian governments to sign and ratify the important international treaty that ensures the protection of all persons from forced disappearance.

Its implementation in the national level would require the enactment of national laws criminalizing enforced disappearances which do not yet exist in any part of Asia, AFAD said.

"We hope that the bill sa Philippines magiging the first anti-disappearance law in Asia pero walang political will ang government and no support na maging batas ang bill at marami din oposisyon from the ranks of the perpetrators," said Bacalso.

She said that forced disappearance should be considered as a social issue the public must be aware of to remain vigilant at all times because "anybody can be a victim".

For their part, Portajada appealed to those who might witness an actual abduction to be alert, take pictures from their cellularphones, jot down plate numbers and description of suspects and if possible stop the crime.

Bacalso said that most of the disappeared were alleged members or sympathizers of communist rebels while others were taken "just for fun."

"Sa ngayon mas maraming cases under Gloria even if hindi siya ganoon katagal. Kahit may change of administration since Marcos…the same military pa rin. Wala talagang change of system," said Bacalso.

According to the October 2006 statistics of the group called Families of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), the sector which had the highest number of victims are the farmers and workers. Third and fourth in the rank are the youth and women’s sectors.

Mary Ghuy Portajada, spokeswoman for the human rights group Desaparecidos said that 186 people have been reported missing since 2001 up to the present. Fifteen of these cases were reported from January-April this year.

Of the number, nine have been surfaced alive while four, including two students from Bicol who only brought food to poll watchers, were found dead.

Usual suspects tagged
Desaparecidos is a Spanish term for "disappeared." These are individuals abducted by a group of people, in many cases, by units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

Those who surfaced alive recounted how they were subjected to torture. But others have not been lucky to be reunited with their families as they were summarily executed and their cadavers’ locations are still unknown.

Central Luzon and Eastern Visayas are two of the regions with the highest number of involuntary disappearance of human rights volunteers, youth and farmers.

The trend is becoming more alarming citing the case of Burgos who was abducted while inside the Ever Gotesco mall in Commonwealth, Quezon City.

In the case of Burgos’s disappearance, his family suspects the military was behind the incident particularly after a vehicle license plate (TAB 194) used in the abduction was traced to another vehicle impounded at the 56th Infantry Battalion in Norzagaray, Bulacan last year.

Jose Luis Burgos, Burgos's younger brother, said the family initially called for a press conference to inform the media about his brother’s disappearance and to issue an appeal to those who might have information that would lead his family to his whereabouts.

Last month, the Burgos family, members of the Free Jonas Burgos Movement and other concerned agencies staged a peaceful protest in front of Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City to urge the military to surface Jonas.

However, the military answered their appeal by playing songs at full volume and even pushed the families of desaparecidos away.

AFAD recently held the commemoration rites for the International Week of the Disappeared at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City attended by around 80 people mostly by representatives of the diplomatic communities, their country members and families of the victims.

Bacalso said that AFAD offers direct economic assistance to families of desaparecidos.

She urged the government to act to stop disappearances and enact national laws punishing perpetrators of forced disappearance.

FIND said that involuntary disappearance is not yet considered a crime under Philippine laws and that cases are filed in court as kidnapping, murder or serious illegal detention or combination of the last two crimes.

AFAD considers the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance as a major source of strength. They call on all Asian governments to sign and ratify the important international treaty that ensures the protection of all persons from forced disappearance.

Its implementation in the national level would require the enactment of national laws criminalizing enforced disappearances which do not yet exist in any part of Asia, AFAD said.

"We hope that the bill sa Philippines magiging the first anti-disappearance law in Asia pero walang political will ang government and no support na maging batas ang bill at marami din oposisyon from the ranks of the perpetrators," said Bacalso.

She said that forced disappearance should be considered as a social issue the public must be aware of to remain vigilant at all times because "anybody can be a victim".

For their part, Portajada appealed to those who might witness an actual abduction to be alert, take pictures from their cellularphones, jot down plate numbers and description of suspects and if possible stop the crime.

Junio 25, 2007

Phil - NDF rejects Army 'explanation' on Abra students disappearance

06/24/2007 | 08:52 PM

Despite the Army's claim that six high school students who disappeared in Abra province were just "delayed" in getting home, the National Democratic Front (NDF) demanded Sunday night the pullout of soldiers from the area.

In a statement on the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) website (www.philippinerevolution.net), NDF Cordillera spokesman Simon "Ka Filiw" Naogsan said there should be "no excuses" for the disappearance.

"Military troops have saturated several mountain ridges in the area, sowing fear among the peasants and their children and preventing them from their usual activities such as firewood gathering, farming and travel. It is tantamount to the denial of the rights of the tribal people to the full use, access and development of their ancestral lands and to livelihood," he said.

"The Cordillera Peoples' Democratic Front (CPDF) joins the village folk of Tubo and Sagada in condemning in the strongest words possible the AFP's inhumanity, brutality and total disregard of the children's democratic rights and welfare," he added.

He said no amount of explanation by the AFP can justify the cruelty soldiers are inflicting on these school children.

Last Friday, the CPP accused the military of abducting the six students of the Mountain Province General Comprehensive High School (MPGCHS), and detaining and torturing them.

The CPP said villagers of Kili, with help from neighboring villages in northern Sagada, organized search teams to locate the missing students, and found them detained by Army troops at a military camp in Lagangilang, Abra.

He noted that one year ago, on the same mountain ridge, an 18-year-old student Michael Uyad of Gueday, Besao was murdered by operating troops of the same Army's 54th IB.

On March 18 that same year, another organic unit of the 54th IB illegally arrested, detained, and tortured two men from Baclingayan, Tubo, Abra who were en route to Mainit, Bontoc to deliver carabaos as ordered by their counterpart in Mainit.

"Even their carabaos were not spared by [soldiers] who butchered them," he said.

He said that by intensifying militarization and state terrorism, the military is wreaking havoc and severe suffering, most particularly on the poor peasant families and national minorities. - GMANews.TV

The AHRC writes with deep concern regarding the forcible abduction and subsequent disappearance of a man, Arnold Aliman, in General Santos City on 27 May 2007. Witnesses have revealed that the vehicle used by the abductors, who were armed, has been traced to the local police Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB). The whereabouts of the victim remain unknown and no credible investigation have been taken so far into the possible police' involvement in the abduction.

CASE DETAILS:

According to various sources, including a local newspaper, the Sun Star, victim Arnold Aliman (a.k.a. Dodong), was driving his motorcycle at around 5:30pm along Pedro Acharon Boulevard in General Santos City, on his way home on 27 May 2007 when he was forcibly abducted. He was supposed to return home after sending his girlfriend off at Saging Street, Barangay (village) Dadiangas South, of the same city. The victim is a resident of the city's Purok (a subsection of the village) Veterans Village.

While Aliman was stopped at an intersection, waiting for traffic light to turn green, a white pick-up vehicle stopped beside him. Three men from the vehicle alighted and forcibly dragged him inside their vehicle. When they were not able to subdue the victim due to his resistance, another three persons alighted and forced him inside. One of the abductors also took over the victim's motorcycle, with license plate number IV 3878.

One of the witnesses recounted that as the incident was taking place, the police officers at a police outpost situated just few meters did not intervene, despite the victim’s loud cries for help. Passersby and bystanders likewise ignored his plea. It is also learned that some of those who witnessed the abduction were activists, but they were too frightened to intervene because the abductors are armed and they too had been facing serious threats on their lives. The place where the abduction took place is usually a crowded and busy street, but the abductors were allowed to escape without hindrance or pursuit.

Soon after the victim’s abduction, some of witnesses went to a local police station, Pendatun Police Station, and later to the General Santos City Police Office’ (GSCPO) headquarters in Camp Fermin G. Lira. Surprisingly, a witness recognized the vehicle used by the abductors parked beside one of the headquarters’ office, the Intelligence and Detective Management Section (IDMS), which was formerly Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB).

Even though the testimonies of the witnesses could have help in locating the victim and identifying the abductors, no credible investigation has so far been taken as to why the vehicle used in abducting the victims was found inside the police headquarters. What the head of the GSCPO, Senior Superintendent Vicente Bautista, has done so far is to order the relief of the chief of the IDMS, Senior Inspector Maximo Sebastian, from his post. It was at Sebastian’s office that the vehicle was parked. But, amazingly, no investigation has been conducted to compel him or his men to explain the matter. The police leadership has even refused to admit that the relief order was due to the incident.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The abduction and subsequent disappearance of Arnold Aliman took place prior to the abduction of a political activist, Gilbert Rey Cadino (a.k.a Jing) on June 6. Unlike Cardino, who was released two days later by his captors, Aliman’s family had difficulty locating him. For further details please see: UA-185-2007. There is also no existing mechanism in place as to how the authorities would assist and help disappeared victim’s families to locate their loved ones.

Prior to his abduction, Aliman had served his jail term at the General Santos City Reformatory Center (GSCRC) for nine years for kidnapping charges. He had just been released in July last year.

Aliman’s abduction followed to abduction and subsequent disappearance that have previously taken place in the city. The couple, Nelly Intice (45) and her husband Federico (52), and another companion have remained missing after they were believed to have been abducted in 25 October 2006. The couple is both political and human rights activists. They were last seen heading towards the city’s bus terminal on their way home to nearby Davao City. Please see for further details: UA-380-2006.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send letters to the authorities below requesting their effective intervention in locating the victim’s whereabouts. A credible investigation must also be conducted on the police’ possible involvement into the victim’s abduction. Please also request for an effective security and protection mechanism for the witnesses and the victim’s families without delay.

Suggested letter:

Dear _________,

PHILIPPINES: Police’ vehicle used in forcibly abducting a man in General Santos City

Name of disappeared victim: Arnold Aliman (a.k.a. Dodong), a businessman
Alleged perpetrators: Six men believed to have links with the police
Place of incident: At an intersection in Pedro Acharon Boulevard and Magsaysay Avenue, General Santos City
Date of incident: At around 5:30pm on 27 May 2007

I am writing to express my deep concern into the forcible abduction and subsequent disappearance of a man, Arnold Aliman, on 27 May 2007 in General Santos City. I have learned that six unidentified men, who are carrying firearms, in a crowded traffic intersection, forcibly abducted Aliman. One of them took over in driving the victim’s motorcycle soon after they forced him inside their vehicle.

What is shocking in this case, according to the information I have received, is that the vehicle used in forcibly abducting the victim was later traced to the police, which was even parked inside the headquarters office of General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO). It was reported to have been parked at the Intelligence and Detective Management Section (IDMS) of GSCPO soon after the incident. Those who witnessed the abduction also confirmed this.

I have learned, however, that despite serious allegations of the possible police’ involvement, as a result of the vehicle being traced to its headquarters, there has not been credible and independent investigation being made to look into this. While I appreciate the relief of the IDMS chief, Senior Inspector Maximo Sebastian, from his post, there is no known investigation conducted on him of his men. It is also disappointing that the investigation being conducted into the victim’s disappearance so far does not include them. The gravity of allegations I strongly believe should have merits an investigation of these policemen.

Furthermore, following the incident, I am disappointed that there has not been substantial progress in locating the victim’s whereabouts. I am also not aware of any mechanism created by the concerned authorities in place to locate the victim, in particular of involving his family into this process. I have also not heard of any security and protection arrangement afforded to the victim’s family and to witnesses of the abduction, which I believe, should have been urgently provided. I am deeply concerned that unless this requirement is meeting, there cannot be substantial progress to any effort to locate the victim’s whereabouts.

I am aware that this abduction is the latest to have occurred in the city and nearby area. As you are aware, the couple, Nelly Intice (45) and her husband Federico, and another companion were also reported abducted in October 2006. They whereabouts have remained unknown and they are still missing until now. They were last seen heading at a bus terminal when they disappeared. On June 6, political activist Gilbert Rey Cadino was also abducted but was later released in nearby Koronadal City. No substantial investigation has likewise taken place to identify his abductors.

I am deeply concerned of these incidents of forcible abduction and subsequent disappearance taking place in the city and nearby, and the lack of effective remedies for the victim’s families to locate their loved ones. I therefore urge you to use your authority to ensure that this is adequately addressed without delay. The government’s negligible action into these alarming cases is inexcusable.

Junio 19, 2007

Phl - Church takes cudgels for desaparecidos

WITH the government exerting its utmost efforts to find kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Boss, the head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged authorities "to show the same zeal and dedication" in locating other victims of forced disappearances and abduction or desaparecidos.

"The government should also exert effort finding those who are victims of mysterious disappearances," said CBCP president Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo.

Lagdameo also said the government should consider the series of disappearances and abductions as "a serious matter."

The military and Moro rebel group are on the heels of a group that abducted Bossi two weeks ago in Zamboanga Sibugay.

Citing a report of the human rights advocate group Karapatan, Lagdameo said the total number of people abducted and been victims of forced disappearances has already reached 199 since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in January 2001.

Lagdameo called on the Arroyo administration to investigate and determine the fate of those who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. "They should be able to bring the perpetrators to justice," he added. (MSN/Sunnex)

Junio 16, 2007

Tacloban City (June 15) -- The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is spearheading a forum/workshop which will tackle the issue on the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance, on June 22, 2007 at 8:30 in the morning to 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon at MacArthur Park Hotel, Candahug, Palo, Leyte.

Atty. Desiree Pontejos, Officer in Charge of the Commission on Human Rights Regional Office 8 informed that the Forum aims at the deliberation on the Draft International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Atty. Pontejos said that the Forum is aimed at informing the participants about the rationale for the Draft Convention. It also hopes to explain the provisions of the Convention and to discuss the implications of the convention to the Philippines.

He added that the Commission on Human Rights Commissioner Quintin Cueto will be among the resource persons during the Forum which will be attended by various sectors like the military, the police force, media groups, non-government organizations, representatives of government agencies, regional state prosecutors, public attorneys office, Red Cross, among others.

Atty. Pontejos enjoins all those invited to attend said important forum which is vital to the implementation and respect for individual human rights.

Enforced disappearance constitutes a violation of international human rights and in a time of war is a violation of international humanitarian law. It is tantamount to deleting a person's very existence and denying him or her, the basic protection of the law to which every man and woman is entitled whether guilty or innocent. It is a violation of that person's rights and the rights of his or her family. The damage to the bereft, who continue to hope against all hope, is far-reaching and long-lasting, affecting not only individuals but the societies in which they live. The passage of time brings no relief from the anguish or anger they suffer from.

The prohibition of enforced disappearance, like all rules of humanitarian law, allows no exception. No war, no state of exception, no imperative reason of national security can justify enforced disappearance. Just as no State, group or individual is above the law, no person can be placed outside the law: enforced disappearance tries to do just that.

This is why this Convention is so important. It is the first international treaty to explicitly ban practices leading to enforced disappearance. This Convention requires States: to hold all persons deprived of liberty in officially recognised locations, to maintain up-to-date official registers and detailed records of all detainees, to authorise detainees to communicate with their families and legal counsel and to give competent authorities access to detainees. All these obligations are critical to prevent enforced disappearance.

The Convention also enshrines the right of families to know the fate of their relatives, one of the pillars on which all rules on missing persons must rest. Further, it requires States to incorporate the crime of enforced disappearance into their own legislation, to investigate cases of disappearances and to prosecute and punish perpetrators accordingly. If enforced disappearances are kept silent and go unpunished, the memory of the missing persons will haunt the societies in which such acts are covered up.

Junio 15, 2007

The AHRC writes to inform you that 27-year-old Gilbert Rey Cardiño (a.k.a. Jing), a political activist who was forcibly abducted and disappeared on 6 June 2007 in Koronadal City, Mindanao, has been released on June 8. Cardiño showed signs of trauma, torture and food deprivation while he was in captivity for two days. Despite Cardiño's release, the identities of his abductors are yet to be confirmed. The trauma Cardiño is presently experiencing was so severe that he could not even talk and has not yet been interviewed.

CASE DETAILS:

The AHRC was informed from a reliable source regarding Gilbert Rey Cardiño's forcible abduction and disappearance hours after it happened in Koronadal City at around 11:00am on 6 June 2007. Cardiño was on his way to his office at that time. A white van suddenly blocked the motorcycle rickshaw he was riding in at an intersection in Barrio Dos, in Koronadal City. The said intersection is at the boundaries of Barangays (villages) Sto. Niño and New Pangasinan of the same city.

Five men reportedly emerged from the vehicle and forcibly dragged Cardiño into their van. Two witnesses described the alleged perpetrators as having short military-like haircuts while another one was wearing a black, long sleeve jacket marked with "POLICE" on the back. The vehicle, a Mitsubishi L-300 van model, was last seen heading towards direction of nearby General Santos City.

After the victim's colleagues came to know of the incident, they went to the Police Regional Office (PRO 12) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Barangay Tambler, General Santos City, more than an hour from Koronadal City. The police informed them that there were aware of Cardiño's abduction but denied holding him in their custody. The victim's colleagues then went to the police headquarters asking for his whereabouts because in the past some persons who were reported missing have later been found to be in police custody.

The police informed the victim's colleagues they were following up on the case but did nothing to promptly assist them in locating the victim's whereabouts. Neither did they show any willingness to cooperate with them. It is extremely difficult for local activists to obtain adequate police assistance because some of them, in particular in this area, have had long held grudges against local activists.

Two days later, at 11:00am on June 8, Cardiño was released near his house in Barangay (village) New Panganisan in Koronadal City. Cardiño was supposed to appear in public, in particular with the media, but was not able to do so as his condition is still being evaluated and observed at the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital where he is confined. Cardiño was met by his family at the hospital after his release. A local politician and a priest were able to rescue Cardiño reportedly after a negotiation for his release and have placed him under their protective custody.

Cardiño was barefoot, completely exhausted and unable to talk. He was still in a state of shock. The physicians evaluating his health condition ordered him to take a complete rest. Cardiño underwent medical examination and was treated for stress at the hospital. It is also reported that Cardiño appeared to have been deprived of food and sleep during his two days in captivity.

Prior to this incident, Cardiño has reported to a human rights group, Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights (Karapatan) local chapter, about the suspicious movement of vehicles passing in front of their office and who were believed to have been spying on them. On March 23 this year, Cardiño noticed a light blue car that stopped in front of their office at around 11:20am. The person inside leaped out and suddenly took pictures of him.

Cardiño is the youngest member of Bayan Muna's National Council, the second-highest governing body of their party. He is also the party's Provincial Chairperson for South Cotabato and the Regional Coordinator for Socsksargen (combination of the provinces of and city South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City).

A reliable source also informed that some of Cardiño's colleagues had in the past experienced being followed by persons unknown to them who appear to have been spying on them. However, there has not been substantial progress with regards to arrangement for their security and protection since then. Some of these activists are acquainted with and are known to the AHRC.

In July 2006, four of Cardiño's colleagues also received threats to their lives reportedly from a group of anti-Communists, critical of their group. One of them was forced to leave the place and relocate to a distant city following the incident. For further details please see UA-228-2006.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to authorities listed below requesting them to conduct a credible investigation in this case. The police authorities must exhaust all means to identify those responsible into the victim's abduction. Adequate security and protection must be afforded to Gilbert Rey Cardiño and his family in the process of this investigation and the subsequent prosecution of the perpetrators. He must also be given adequate medical and psychological treatment for the trauma he suffered.

Name of the victim: Gilbert Rey Cardiño (a.k.a. Jing); aged 27; He has one child; National Council Member of a political party Bayan Muna (People First) and its provincial chairperson in South Cotabato, Mindanao
Alleged perpetrators: Five men riding on a white van with no license plate number. One of them wears black long sleeves marked with "POLICE" on the back.
Place of incident: At the intersection in Barangays (village) Sto. Niño and New Pangasinan in Barrio Dos, Koronadal City
Date of incident: From 6 to 8 June 2007

I am writing to draw your attention to the forcible abduction and subsequent disappearance of Gilbert Rey Cardiño for two days in 6 June 2007. I have learned that Cardiño had been held in captivity for two days after five men riding on white van at an intersection in Barrio Dos, Koronadal City, abducted him. On June 8 he was released near his place but appeared to have been traumatized, tortured and have not eaten while in captivity.

After the victim's abduction, his colleagues and relatives had searched for him at the Police Regional Office (PRO 12) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in General Santos City. They, however, were unable to get satisfactory police assistance to help them locate the victim's whereabouts aside from informing them the victim is not in their custody. I am disappointed by the manner the police handled Cardiño's case and their inadequate police assistance. I have learned that the police inadequate actions could have been due to their long held bias against the local activists.

While I am glad of Cardiño's release, I am disappointed that there has not been substantial progress to determine the identities of those responsible in forcibly abducting, torturing and depriving him of food while in two days captivity. I have learned that Cardiño is presently suffering extreme trauma that he could not even talk following the incident. His physicians likewise noticed torture marks and indications that he was deprived of food while in captivity. I therefore urge you to ensure that an adequate medical and psychological treatment is afforded to him until his full recovery. He and his family should also be afforded with immediate protection without delay to ensure their security and safety.

I also urge you to exhaust all means to identify the alleged perpetrators and to file appropriate criminal charges against them without delay by closely cooperating with the victim and his family. Cardiño's protection and security arrangement must be long term period and sufficient so that they could prosecute those responsible without fear of being harmed and threatened. The authorities should also consider affording security and protection to Cardiño's colleagues facing similar threats to their lives.

Further more, I urge the Philippine government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and to subsequently enact enabling laws on this. I am aware that the absence of an enabling law on enforced disappearance had long been denying disappeared victims and their relative redress and adequate redress from the authorities. For instance, there was the police's inadequate assistance towards the victim's colleagues and relatives in this case. This could have been prevented and that the police could have been held to account had there been laws clearly stipulating their obligations on disappearance cases.

Junio 11, 2007

Phl - "Let Us Keep Vigil and Tear the Curtain of Darkness"

This statement is the unity statement of writers, artists and journalists regarding Jonas Joseph Burgos' (son of the late freedom fighter Jose Burgos) disappearance.

Let Us Keep Vigil and Tear the Curtain of Darkness
Quezon City, 09 June 2007

We are writers, artists and journalists. Our work thrives on the freedom of expression and of the press – which is among the foundations of any democracy.

History shows that the curtailment of freedom of expression and of the press is among the first steps taken by would-be dictators. It is no small wonder then that writers, artists and journalists have historically been among the fiercest opponents of authoritarianism.

On Feb. 25, 1986, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted after three days of what has come to be known as the EDSA I uprising.

The struggle against the dictatorship, however, was not just three days. EDSA I was the culmination of more than a decade of anti-dictatorship struggle by the Filipino people, which took several forms at various times.

Among the key figures in the fight against the Marcos dictatorship were many of our fellow writers, artists and journalists – the likes of Romulo “Mulong” Sandoval, Lino Brocka, and Armando Malay to name just a few.

At this point in our country’s often-turbulent history, we are compelled to revisit the struggle for democracy waged by those who came before us, because the gains of that battle – which greatly benefited us – are now under attack.

This manifests, among other things, in the April 28, 2007 abduction of Jonas Joseph Burgos – son of the late press freedom hero Jose “Joe” Burgos, Jr. – in Quezon City by armed men. He was snatched while having lunch at Hapag Kainan Restaurant at Ever Gotesco-Commonwealth and dragged into a van with plate number TAB 194. He has not been seen since then.

Jonas is an agriculturist who teaches organic farming methods to peasants in Bulacan. The van with plate number TAB 194 had been impounded for some time at the headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion – which is based in Norzagaray, Bulacan – after being confiscated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in anti-logging operations.

Jonas is not the first to fall victim to enforced disappearances. With 199 victims having been documented since 2001, he is the 16th victim this year alone.

The enforced disappearances are taking place alongside extra-judicial killings, now numbering more than 800 since 2001.

The victims were known in their communities as government critics. A good number were confirmed to have been active in cause-oriented groups, while the rest were not affiliated with any political organization. In several of the cases, state forces have been identified as the perpetrators.

The recent passage of an Anti-Terrorism Bill that defines terrorism so vaguely that even publishing or producing works with the slightest criticism of the government may be construed as a “terorristic” act should concern all who value the freedom of expression and of the press.

We are indeed at a dark chapter in our country’s history. We urge our fellow writers, artists and journalists to join us in keeping vigil and tearing the curtain of darkness in this night of our people.

Rights groups warn of rise in abductions in Philippines

By Carlos H. Conde
Published: June 11, 2007

MANILA: Berlin Guerrero has been an activist for much of his adult life. Aside from being a pastor for a Protestant church in Laguna, a province just south of Manila, he has also been involved in protests and in organizing Bayan Muna, the Philippines' largest leftist party.

But nothing prepared him for what happened on May 27. He had just attended a service that day when a van without license plates cut into his path. Several men got out, dragged him into the vehicle and sped away, leaving behind Guerrero's horrified wife and children.

In the next 12 hours, Guerrero recounted in a sworn statement he released three days later, he was tortured and accused of being a Communist.

Guerrero's abduction and his claims of torture highlighted what human rights groups consider to be a resurgence of "enforced disappearances" and torture in the Philippines, which many Filipinos thought had ended with the ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. His dictatorship was responsible for the disappearance of more than 1,500 people, according to human rights groups.

"Abductions are on the rise. There were more abductions than killings in the last three months," said Renato Reyes Jr., secretary-general of Bayan, an alliance of leftist groups.

The number of documented abductions, according to Desaparecidos, a group of relatives of the disappeared, has been increasing, from 7 in 2001 to 28 in 2004, the year the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo began to be besieged by allegations that she rigged the 2004 presidential vote.

Last year, 75 were abducted, the group reported.

So far this year, it said, 19 have been kidnapped by people suspected of being military agents, 10 of them in May, including Guerrero.

Two turned up dead.

Moreover, most of the victims of the disappearances - 106 of the 198, according to Desaparecidos - are farmers and workers identified with leftist groups and labor unions, a majority of them from provinces that are among the most militarized in the country.

Prior to this wave of abductions, the human rights situation in the Philippines had been characterized by a series of extrajudicial killings of leftists, which are also blamed on the military. Nearly 900 people have been summarily executed since Arroyo took power in 2001, according to Karapatan, an alliance of Philippine human rights groups. In recent months, the killings have generated international attention, embarrassing the administration.

The abductions and torture in the past three weeks suggest, according to Reyes, a possible shift in strategy by state security forces designed to blunt the international outrage at the killings but at the same time continue "to strike fear in the hearts of critics," Reyes said. "The perpetrators have resorted to quiet abductions instead of high-profile assassinations," he said.

Last week, France urged the Philippines to ratify the United Nations' International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. "We do regret and condemn disappearances anywhere in the world," Gérard Chesnel, the French ambassador to the Philippines, said last week. "It's something that democratic countries cannot accept."

The European Union, which has been consistently monitoring the human rights situation in the Philippines, will send a team of experts to Manila this month to determine whether the government needs assistance to address human rights problems.

"Hardly a day goes by without a fresh reminder of the essential importance of human rights in this country," Alistair MacDonald, head of the EU delegation to Manila, told Agence France-Presse last month.

The Roman Catholic Church has also weighed in. Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, expressed outrage over the disappearances, which he said "shamed and saddened" the church.

Felixberto Calang, a Protestant bishop and human rights advocate, maintains that these disappearances are part of a campaign against political dissenters by the state. "It is doing so with impunity, without fear of accountability, and in full view of the international community that has repeatedly condemned the country's darkening human rights record," he said.

The military has repeatedly defended itself against the allegations, saying last month that it does not condone human rights violations and that "any soldier found guilty of such will face the full force of the penalty corresponding to his crime." It challenged its accusers to file charges in court.

Army officials did not respond to repeated efforts to contact them.

The Arroyo administration cited Manila's re-election to the UN Human Rights Council as evidence that it was working to investigate human rights violations.

"The Philippines' re-election to the council is a clear vote of confidence for the Philippines and President Arroyo's efforts to move forward the global agenda of upholding and protecting human rights," said Alberto Romulo, Arroyo's secretary for foreign affairs. The Human Rights Council was formed in 2006 to address human rights issues. Its 47 members, who will serve for three years each, are elected by a majority of the UN General Assembly.

Guerrero, 40, recounted that his captors repeatedly hit him with all sorts of objects, including a water bottle. His captors also put a plastic bag over his head. "They threatened to kill me, burn me or bury me," he said. The men took his laptop and replaced its contents with subversive documents, he said. "They called me 'pastor impostor,' " Guerrero said.

"This matter is being looked into, and we will file cases against those who will be found guilty," Calderon said.

Since Guerrero's abduction, two more activists have disappeared. One, Gabriel Rey Cardiño, a Bayan Muna official in Cotabato Province, in the south, was snatched on June 6. Two days later, Cardiño, 27, was found wandering along a highway, shocked and bruised.

Junio 10, 2007

EU team in Philippines to “assess” murders

9 June 2007 - Issue : 733

A team of experts from the European Union (EU) will arrive in the Philippines within the month for a 10-day visit to assess possible assistance to help resolve a spate of political killings in the country, diplomats said last week.
The team would be composed of three officials from the Brussels-based European Commission and about four to five police, technical and human rights experts from EU countries.
The experts were scheduled to arrive in Manila on June 18, according to an official at the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs.

Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the EC delegation in the Philippines, has said the team will not investigate a spate of killings alleged to be politically motivated in the country but instead make “an assessment of needs.”
He said the team would look into what forms of assistance the EU could give to help Philippine authorities resolve the murders, prosecute suspects and prevent more attacks. The DFA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the EU team was also scheduled to meet with human rights groups during the visit.
“It’s part of their assessment,” the diplomat said. “They will speak with members of the civil society that includes local human rights groups.”
According to human rights group Karapatan, close to 900 people have become victims of extra-judicial killings since 2001. Most of the victims were leftist activists, labour leaders, human rights workers and journalists.
Karapatan has also documented some 180 cases of forced disappearances of mostly leftist and political activists in the same period.
In one of the high-profile cases of forced disappearances, the son of a late press freedom activist has been missing since April, when he was seen being dragged by armed men into a van in a crowded Manila shopping mall. The family of Jonas Burgos, an agriculturist providing skills training for leftist farmers cooperatives, has blamed the military for the kidnapping.
The military has denied involvement in Burgos’ abduction, but police have traced the van used in the kidnapping to an army camp in a northern province. An investigation was ongoing.
Several foreign governments have condemned the unabated political killings and attacks. They have criticised the Philippine government for failing to stop the murders, which leftist groups have blamed on the military.

Phl - Sign int’l treaty vs disappearances, Palace urged

Families of disappeared militants challenged Malacañang over the weekend to sign an international treaty that requires the investigation of cases of enforced disappearances.

In a statement, the Pamilya ng Desaparecidos Para sa Katarungan (Desaparecidos) said this is the only way to make sure the government acts on disappearances.

“To stop the continued rise in disappearances, we challenge the Arroyo regime to sign the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance which requires the states to investigate enforced disappearances and punish those who are found guilty of such crime," the group said in a statement on the Kilusan website www.kilusan.net

.Families of the victims said they have been subjected to risks and continued psychological torture as they continue to search and remain uncertain of the fate of their missing loved ones.

According to the group, those who remain missing have reached 199 from 2001 to May this year.

From January to May this year, 16 persons were abducted and had remained missing, including six women and one minor. In 2006 was recorded the highest number of disappeared, with 75 victims.

“As part of the regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya, elite intelligence and operation groups of the Armed Forces of the Philippines have conducted the surveillance, abduction, torture, concealment and possibly execution of their victims, who were mostly members of cause-oriented groups and even the underground Left," the group said.

Worse, the group said cases of disappearance pointed to the involvement of state security forces, use of government resources and facilities.

The group cited the cases of:

* Joseph Jonas Burgos, 37, was abducted by armed men suspected to be soldiers on April 28, at the Ever Gotesco mall in Quezon City. The abductors’ Toyota Revo had the license plate TAB 194 which was traced to an XLT jeep impounded at the 56th ID headquarters in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

* On April 3, Cavite urban poor leader Lourdes “Nay Ude" Rubrico was abducted by armed men who identified themselves as agents of the “NBI" (National Bureau of Investigation) and used a brown van with license plate XRR 428 which was traced to Army Major Darwin Sy.

* Oscar Leuterio, a former security guard in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan, was also abducted last year and kept incommunicado for five months, inside the Fort Magsaysay where he saw other victims of disappearance. He had filed criminal and civil charges against his abductors and captors, including now ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr.

* Last April 12 in Cebu, soldiers abducted and tortured Bayan Muna coordinator Preciosa Daño, 48 and Kabataan partylist’s Beethoven Avila, 28. The military later released them to the Regional Intelligence Investigation Division in Toledo City.

* Last March 27, in Sta. Ana, Pampanga, peasant Villamor Adona was abducted by armed men who carried Armalite rifles with laser devices, which are used by military and policemen.

* Soldiers in civilian clothes were involved in the May 7 illegal arrest of Virgilio Borja in Ormoc, Leyte which could have also led to another disappearance, were it not for the presence of Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Teddy Casiño who accompanied Borja.

* Manuel Sioson Jr., abducted May 5 in brgy. Lambakin, San Miguel, Bulacan by armed men suspected to be soldiers of the 56th IB PA led by Lt.Col. Noel Clement

Earlier, the group branded the Philippines’ election to the United Nations Human Rights Council a supreme form of irony.

It said that despite its standing, the Philippine government has not shown any respect, much less protection of human rights.

“Ironically, the Philippines was reelected as member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, after finishing a one year term. We at Desaparecidos, however maintain that the country’s membership to the recently-created UNHRC has not reflected in any show of respect, much less protection of human rights of Filipinos, as shown by the rising cases of disappearances and extra-judicial killings," it said. - GMANews.TV

Junio 2, 2007

Phl - Burgos believes her son is still alive

More than a month after her son went missing, Edita Burgos expressed a "mother’s feeling" that her son Jonas Burgos is still alive.

Showing the softness and strength of a mother all at the same time, Edita said she expects to see her son very soon.

"I really firmly believe that he is alive," Edita said. "In my heart, I know that he is still alive."

Edita, however, admitted her concern for the condition of Jonas under his captors.

"I don’t even want to think about it," she told reporters in an interview prior to the tree planting activity at the culmination of the International Week of the Disappeared that was organized by the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani yesterday.

"You know how things are when victims are (at the mercy) of their abductors," she said.

Burgos, son of the late journalist and press freedom fighter Jose Burgos Jr., has been missing after he was snatched by unidentified men in a shopping mall in Quezon City late April.

The military denied having a hand in the disappearance even though witnesses tagged two soldiers from the Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion based in Norzagaray, Bulacan as among those who allegedly snatched Burgos.

Militant groups and various human rights organizations accused the military of being behind Jonas’ enforced disappearance.

The military, however, consistently denied the accusation but offered to help in locating the missing activist.

International human rights groups were also quick to condemn the incident.

The European Union lamented human rights abuses had become a daily occurrence in the country.

The US-based Amnesty International also said Jonas’ disappearance had reinforced the country’s image as a "land of lawlessness."

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) expressed concern over the disappearance of Burgos.

"In our prayer we would like to request that those who are handling him may have the mercy and the compassion to return him to his family. This is our prayer," CBCP president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said.

"We would like to express our sympathy to the mother and family of Jonas Burgos with our prayers. We do not know what is the objective of his disappearance, but we sympathize with the family over his disappearance," he said.

France urges Manila to back disappearances treaty

MANILA, June 1 (Reuters) - France appealed to the Philippines to sign and ratify an international treaty on disappearances as European human rights experts are due to help local authorities solve political killings.

Gerard Chesnel, France ambassador to the Philippines, said democratic governments around the world must support the treaty on disappearances to criminalise and to put to an end rampant state-sanctioned abduction of people.

In the Philippines, human rights advocates say nearly 200 people have disappeared since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was swept to power by street protests in 2001. Most of abduction cases were blamed on the military.

France has been rallying global support for the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances since it was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December 2006.

Gabriel Munuera Vinals, head of the European Union's public affairs section, said nine European human rights experts from the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Spain were due this month to help Manila solve extra-judicial killings.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that another five activists have been killed while another one was forcibly disappeared in separate incidents in February, March and May of this year. These belated reports received from various sources clearly exposes the reality of the alarming state of insecurity the Filipino people are forced to lived with, in particular human rights and political activists, as a result of unabated extrajudicial killings and the complete absence of remedies for victims' families.

CASE DETAILS:

The information below was received from various sources, including the Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights (Karapatan), a human rights organisation based in Quezon City, Metro Manila.

Case 1: Two young men found dead

Around 7:00am on May 15, Ronilo Brezuela and Roberto Bagasbas, Jr. (a.k.a. Junjun) were tasked to deliver food rations for their colleagues who were serving as election watchers at that time. That was the last time they were seen alive. Their bodies were recovered by their relative days later.

According to the information received it was only on the morning of May 17 when Bagasbas' father, Roberto Sr., learned that two dead were lying at the Capalonga plaza for the purpose of determining their identities. When the elder Bagasbas learned that one of the bodies resembled his son, he hurriedly went to the plaza to check. Upon arrival he found two boxes made of plywood in which the bodies were placed. Soon after opening one of the boxes, he found the decomposing body of his son. His son's chin was damaged and there was a hole in his chest. His hands were tied with rope behind his back and his feet were also tied.

The elder Bagasbas then sought the permission from the police officers of Capalonga to take his son's body back home. After the police completed their procedures they allowed him to do so.

While Bagasbas' body had already been claimed, the body of Brizuela was not claimed until May 19. It was only on this time that his mother, Anita Brezuela, learned about the death of her son from her neighbours. She was not able to claim her son's body at the time it was presented at the plaza. When she came to know about his son's death, his body was already buried because nobody had come forward to either claim or identified it when it was presented.

Days before the victims' bodies were recovered, the villagers in the area on May 16 had heard in the local radio station in Daet, Camarines Norte the announcement by the Philippine Army that it had killed two rebels during an encounter. The military's claim was however denied by the villagers living in the area where the military claim an encounter took place. The villagers insisted that no such fighting had occurred.

Additionally, hours after the two victims were last seen on May 15, it is learned that their bodies had already been recovered at around 2:00pm. A man whom the military ordered to take the dead bodies and hired vehicles to ferry them towards the village center of Barangay Mataqui, recounted that he had loaded the bodies in a "paragos" (a carabao-drawn cart). He took them down to the village centre where they were presented to the public for identification. Later that evening, the parish priest of Capalonga had blessed the dead bodies which were later found out to be belonging to Bagasbas and Brizuela.

This man who carried the dead bodies had been interviewed by a staff of the Camarines Norte People's Organization (CNPO).

Case 2: A man was shot dead following arrest and questioning by soldiers

On March 14, Cipriano Ligaspo was on his way home at about 1:30 pm when he was shot dead by two unidentified men wearing bonnets in Masapia, San Andres, Bunawan. Masapia is located about 18 kilometers from the village of Sta. Monica where the victim was residing. It is also close to where the military camp is located. Ligaspo suffered 16 gunshot wounds said to be from 9mm and .45 caliber pistols. Ligaspo is survived by his wife and two children.

At the time of his death, Ligaspo was earning a living as motorcycle driver. Prior to Ligaspo's death, however, the military had already been allegedly harassing and threatening to kill him. The military had accused Ligaspo of being a sympathizer of a rebel group, the New People's Army.

A month prior to his death, Ligaspo was together with his brother and five other peasants when they were forcibly taken by 14 military men belonging to the 36th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army, into a military truck on February 20. They were taken to their headquarters stationed in Scaling, Barangay San Roque, Bislig City, Surigao del Sur. The military accused them of supporting the rebels.

While inside the headquarters, the military subjected them to questioning and took photos and video recordings of them. They had them interrogated separately in different rooms as to whether or not they had a certain affiliation or knowledge of the rebel's activities and their supporters. They were subjected to questioning in the absence of their legal counsels, and were psychologically tortured.

At about 3:00 pm that same day, their relatives and family members went to the military's headquarters asking for their whereabouts. At that time they were under the military's custody. Only until at around 5pm when the military allowed their relatives to meet the victims and they were subsequently released. However, they were made to sign a waiver stating that they were in good condition when they were released. Before leaving the camp, they were allegedly threatened that they would be killed if they continued supporting the rebels, allegations which the victims denied.

After Ligaspo's killing, no suspect has so far been arrested or charged. The military unit involved in allegedly threatening him and his colleagues have not been subjected to investigation to answer the allegations of their possible involvement in the victim's killing subsequent to the February 20 incident. No appropriate actions have likewise been taken against the said military unit for illegally arresting and detaining the victim and his colleagues.

Case 3: A woman was murdered a day after she was spied on

At around 7:30 am on March 2, Felisa Ocampo was walking in front of her sister's store when two men suddenly approached and shot her in the forehead. The gunmen waited for awhile to make sure the victim was dead before leaving the area. They also threatened those people who tried to intervene from making any move. The attackers escaped in a car waiting nearby in which two other men were inside. Two other men were seen riding on a motorcycle escorting the car.

After the shooting, Ocampo was immediately rushed to the Morong Municipal Health Unit but was already declared dead on arrival.

A day before the incident, on March 1, it was around 2:30 pm while she was doing her laundry she noticed that four men were apparently monitoring her house. The two men were carrying mobile phones with them. When she noticed the suspicious movement of these two men, she hid in a corner. Ocampo's neighbours likewise spied on the movement of the two men. The two were seen in front of the victim's house while the other two men were seen at the nearby marketplace. One of Ocampo's neighbours asked the two men in front of the house of who are looking for. One of them replied; "Nobody, we're just waiting for someone."

Only after two hours or so later did these two men left the area. After they left, Ocampo immediately went outside her house towards her sister's. She slept at her sister's place that whole night. She was supposed to report to the police station the following day that she was being spied upon by two men.

Prior to Ocampo's killing, she had been repeatedly summoned by the military attached to the 24th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army (IBPA) in Balanga, Bataan but she had refused to go for questioning. It is reported that she was allegedly included in the military's "Order of Battle" list. At the time of her death, Ocampo was a well respected person in their community. She was described as a person whom the villagers could at least seek assistance from. She was the municipal coordinator of a political party, Bayan Muna (People First) in Morong, Bataan chapter.

Case 4: Killing of a man and irregular police investigation

On March 11, Carlito Getrosa was having a usual gathering with his friends and relatives at the back of his house at around 8:30 pm. When Carlito stood up to take his dinner inside the house, a man shot him on the head with a .45 caliber pistol equipped with silencer. The gunman was described as wearing dark long sleeves and a ski mask when he attacked the victim killing him instantly.

After the shooting, the gunman immediately escaped onboard a red motorcycle towards the direction of the national highway. But before leaving, the gunman warned the witnesses not to follow him.

Hours before the shooting incident, it was at around 7:30 pm the witnesses noticed the red motorcycle, a Honda XRM model, parked in front of a small market. Close by was the person sitting on a stall that would later shoot the victim. According to the witnesses, the said person was later seen heading towards Getrosa's house onboard the motorcycle. The witnesses, however, could not recognize the man at that time because the place was dark. One of the victim's friends have likewise notice two other men behind a nearby tree, which indicates that the attackers was not alone. The following day, residents discovered traces of boots markings.

Days before the shooting incident, sometime on March 8 to10, the villagers in the area likewise claimed to have noticed persons with suspicious movements. The persons were riding on a motorcycle roaming in the area often during in the afternoon. The motorcycle they were riding on did not bear a license plate number.

At the time of his death, Getrosa was a member of a political party, Bayan Muna (People First).

In late April, the police authorities, in particular the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG XII), have reported to have already filed charges against perpetrators of Getrosa's murder. The police charged three of Getrosa's "close associates" as allegedly responsible for the victim's murder. They claimed to have obtained an affidavit from the victim's mother, Alicia, as a complainant. Her affidavit was said to have been used in the filing of charges against the three persons.

However, according to sources, there were irregularities in the manner by which the police conducted their investigation and subsequent filing of charges. It is reported that the victim's mother could not recollect any instances where police investigators have her signed an affidavit regarding her son's murder. It is alleged that the Alicia's signature in the complaint could have been forged.

Case 5: Forcible abduction and disappearance of a man

In another incident, it was around 2:00 am on February 25 when five armed men in military uniform and with faces covered with ski masks forcibly entered inside Romualdo Balbuena's house where he and his family were sleeping inside.

The armed men forcibly destroyed the door and went straight to where Balbuena was sleeping. They immediately grabbed him from his room and forcibly dragged him outside their room. They had his hands tied behind his back. The soldiers dragged him out of their house and forced him towards a vehicle waiting nearby.

Balbuena's wife, Violeta, was in a state of shock during the incident that she has not been able to immediately intervene and run after her husband's abductors. At the time, their house had been surrounded by around 17 military men. The vehicle where the victim was taken was seen heading towards national highway.

Although Balbuena family had already sought police assistance and had the incident registered into the police blotter, there has not been substantial progress since. They also went to a nearby detachment of the 34th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army, located few kilometers from their house but they were told they were not holding the victim in their custody. The family likewise sought the help of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) but they are not aware of any progress on the case since. The victim's whereabouts has remained unknown and still could not be located.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the authorities listed below requesting for them to take the appropriate and effective actions, in particular in identifying, arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators of these cases. The alleged involvement of the military; for instance the cases of Ronilo Brezuela and Roberto Bagasbas, and Cipriano Ligaspo, must be thoroughly investigated. The authorities must exhaust all means to hold those military men involved accountable by filing appropriate charges. To ensure this, they must likewise guarantee the security and protection of the witnesses and the victims' families without further delay.

Suggested letter:

Dear____________,

PHILIPPINES: Killing of five more activists and forcible disappearance of another one in separate incidents

Case 1:
Name of the victims killed:
1. Ronilo Brezuela, 16 years old, a resident of Sitio, Maligaya, Barangay (village) Alayao, Capalonga, Camarines Norte. He was a farmer and a member of a youth political party, Kabataan Youth
2. Roberto Bagasbas, Jr. (a.k.a Junjun), 27 years old, a resident of Sitio Ulipanan, Barangay Dahican, Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte. He was also a member of the same party. He was a fisherman
Alleged perpetrators: Elements of the Alpha Company of the 31st Infantry Battalion Philippine Army based in Tigbinan Base, Labo, Camarines Norte
Place of incident: Sitio Santolan, Barangay Old Camp and Barangay Mataqui, Capalonga, all in the same province.
Date of incident: 15 May 2007

Case 2:
Name of the victim killed: Cipriano Ligaspo, 43 years old, a resident of Sta. Monica, Bunawan Brook, Bunawan, Agusan Del Sur. He had two children. He earns living by driving a motorcycle
Alleged perpetrators: Two unidentified armed men wearing bonnets believed to be members of security forces
Place of incident: Masapia, San Andres, Bunawan, in the same province
Date of incident: At around 1:30pm on 14 March 2007

Case 3:
Name of the victim killed: Felisa Timog Ocampo, 59 years old, a resident of Barangay Poblacion, Morong, Bataan. She was a widow with one child. She was the municipal Coordinator for Bayan Muna (People first) in Morong
Alleged perpetrators: Two unidentified armed men with four other accomplices, two of them were in car and another two were riding on a motorcycle
Place of incident: In front of a store owned by the victim's sister in the same place
Date of incident: At 7:30am on 2 March 2007

Case 4:
Name of the victim: Carlito Getrosa, 49 years old, a resident of Purok Narra, Midpapan 2, Pigcawayan, North Cotabato. He was a member of Bayan Muna (People First) in Pigcawayan
Alleged perpetrators: An unidentified gunman described as wearing dark long sleeves and a mask. The person was riding on a red motorcycle. He was alleged to have several accomplices during the attack.
Place of incident: Near the victim's residence
Date of incident: At around 8:30pm on 11 March 2007

Name of disappeared victim:
1. Romualdo Balbuena, 55 years old, a resident of Barangay 1, Poblacion, Quinapondan, Eastern Samar
Alleged perpetrators: Twenty two persons who are believed to be security forces carrying long firearms and ski masks.
Place of incident: At the victim’s home in Quinapondan, Eastern Samar
Date of incident: At around 2am on 25 February 2007

I am writing to raise my grave concern regarding the killing of another five activists and forcible disappearance of another one in separate incidents in February, March and May this year.

I have learned that on May 15, two young men, namely Ronilo Brezuela (16) and Roberto Bagasbas, Jr. (27), both members of a political party for the youth, Kabataan Youth, were found dead after they are supposed to deliver food rations to their colleagues serving as watchers in elections in Labo, Camarines Norte. I am gravely concerned to allegations of the military's possible involvement into their death.

I have learned that although the military had already claimed the two victims had been killed during an encounter, there are circumstances that have not been thoroughly investigated thereby putting serious question on this claim. Firstly, while the military claimed an encounter had taken place in the area where the victims' bodies were recovered, I have learned that according to villagers and witnesses' accounts there was no such encounter that have occurred.

I am also disappointed on the manner by which the victims' bodies were displayed for identification at a park in public. It was disorderly that even one of victims’ mothers, Anita Brezuela, was unable to claim it and give his son a descent burial. Had she not been informed by her neighbours four days later, she would have not known the circumstances behind her son's death. Her son was buried with no one claiming it.

I have also learned that three other activist, namely Cipriano Ligaspo of Bunawan, Agusan Del Sur; Felisa Timog Ocampo of Morong, Bataan and Carlito Getrosa of Pigcawayan, North Cotabato, have also been killed in separate incidents.

While I am aware that the police have already filed charges against the alleged perpetrators of two of these cases; for instance Ocampo and Getrosa, I am gravely concerned to allegation of irregularities in the police investigation and the subsequent filing of criminal charges in court. For instance, I have learned that the affidavit taken from Getrosa's mother, Alicia, used in filing the case was alleged to have been fabricated. Gestrosa's mother, according to my sources, could not remember having signed an affidavit with the police as a complaint.

Should these allegations are found to be true; this will have serious implications into validity of the complaint on Getrosa's case. I therefore urge you to look into these allegations. To ensure this, I urge the police authorities to instead actively involve the victim's families in any process of this case. This is necessary because should any fabricated or invalid complaint be allowed to be filed in court, it undermines the effective prosecution of the case. To prosecute person who could have been not involved in the Getrosa's murder, and as a result of fabricated charges, is also unacceptable. Justice cannot be achieved by wrongly prosecuting individuals.

In another case, I am also concern of the possible involvement by the military into the killing of Ligaspo. Although the perpetrators have yet to be identified, I have learned that prior to his killing there have been incidents of harassment and intimidation perpetrated against him by the military attached to the 36th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army stationed in Bislig City. For instance, on February 20, Ligaspo and his six other companions were illegally arrested, detained and psychologically tortured while being questioned by the military in absence of their legal counsel.

I have also learned that Ligaspo and his companions were threatened that they would be killed should they continue to support a rebel group, the allegations by which the victim and his companions had claimed innocence. Had their families not intervene and went to the military camp demanding for their release, they would have not been release. I therefore urge you to seriously look into this incident and let the military men involved to answer the allegations against them.

Finally, the forcible abduction and disappearance of Romualdo Balbuena should also be properly investigated. I urge you to exhaust all means to locate the whereabouts of Balbuena by closely cooperating with his wife. I have learned that Balbuena's wife Violeta was present when the armed men, believed to be military, forcibly took her husband inside their house while they were asleep. Although she has reported to the police and other agencies, there has not been substantial progress on the case. To my knowledge, the victim's whereabouts remained unknown.

I also urge you to ensure the witnesses and families of this victims are guaranteed with security and protection promptly. This is essential to ensure the effective prosecution of perpetrators in court. Also, the authorities must consider without delay affording appropriate assistance and compensation to the victims' families. I am aware that Section 3(d) of the Republic Act 7309 affords compensation to people who are victims of violent crimes.

Mayo 29, 2007

Phl - Disaster area for human rights

EDITORIAL

The Philippine Star

There are license plates that have been traced to a vehicle impounded at the compound of the Philippine Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion based in Norzagaray, Bulacan. There are eyewitnesses who have described the appearances of the suspects. And yet the family of Jonas Burgos marked Monday the 30th day of his disappearance with police investigators still unable to identify any suspect. What will it take to solve this case?

Burgos, a son of the late publisher and press freedom fighter Jose Burgos Jr., is not even the latest addition to the long list of the Philippines’ version of desaparecidos – the “disappeared.” The latest case was reported last Sunday, when a pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, who used to be a regional officer of Bayan, was abducted in Biñan, Laguna.

Like the unexplained killings since the restoration of democracy in 1986, the disappearances have raised international concern about the human rights situation in the Philippines. The issue has hounded President Arroyo in her visit to New Zealand, where the Philippines was described as a “disaster area” for human rights, and is bound to bedevil her in her globetrotting.

Denying state involvement in the killings and abductions is not enough; the cases must be solved and the perpetrators captured and punished. With killings and abductions remaining unexplained, it is easy for left-wing militants, who are the principal targets, to accuse the administration of systematic violations of human rights.

There should be no place for these violations in a democracy, especially under the watch of a President who was installed in Malacañang on the wings of people power. Yet unexplained killings and disappearances continue. The failure to solve the killings has also undermined free elections, with politicians eliminating their rivals through murder.

With protesters greeting her visit in Wellington Monday, President Arroyo welcomed international help in dealing with political violence and human rights violations in the Philippines. But what can the international community do, apart from raising concern and providing forensic expertise and equipment? If the Arroyo administration truly does not sanction these blatant violations of human rights, the best way to prove it is by catching and punishing the culprits. The Chief Executive must read the riot act to her military and police officers: their jobs will depend on stopping the killings and abductions.

Phl - Signatures on behalf of Jonas Burgos

The Free Jonas Burgos Movement (FJBM) calls on all our colleagues in the art and writers circle to manifest their support in our call to the AFP, PNP and the GMA government to double their effort in locating Jonas Joseph Burgos, son of late press freedom icon Jose “Joe” T. Burgos, who was forcedfully abducted last April 28, 2007 at the Ever Gotesco Commonwealth in Quezon City.

We are humbly soliciting your signatures in support of our call to surface Jonas and all desaparecidos and demand justice for all the victims of human rights violations of the current and previous government in our country.

We are hopeful that we would be in unison in this call. Every name counts. You count.

Let Us Keep Vigil and Tear the Curtain of Darkness
Unity Statement of Writers, Artists and Journalists

We are writers, artists and journalists. Our work thrives on the freedom of expression and of the press - which is among the foundations of any democracy.

History shows that the curtailment of freedom of expression and of the press is among the first steps taken by would-be dictators. It is no small wonder then that writers, artists and journalists have historically been among the fiercest opponents of authoritarianism.

On Feb. 25, 1986, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted after three days of what has come to be known as the EDSA I uprising.

The struggle against the dictatorship, however, was not just three days. EDSA I was the culmination of more than a decade of anti-dictatorship struggle by the Filipino people, which took several forms at various times.

Among the key figures in the fight against the Marcos dictatorship were many of our fellow writers, artists and journalists - the likes of Romulo “Mulong” Sandoval, Lino Brocka, and
Armando Malay to name just a few.

At this point in our country’s often-turbulent history, we are compelled to revisit the struggle for democracy waged by those who came before us, because the gains of that battle - which greatly benefited us - are now under attack.

This manifests, among other things, in the April 28, 2007 abduction of Jonas Joseph Burgos - son of the late press freedom hero Jose “Joe” Burgos, Jr. - in Quezon City by armed men. He was snatched while having lunch at Hapag Kainan Restaurant at Ever Gotesco-Commonwealth and dragged into a van with plate number TAB 194. He has not been seen since then.

Jonas is an agriculturist who teaches organic farming methods to peasants in Bulacan. The van with plate number TAB 194 had been impounded for some time at the headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion - which is based in Norzagaray, Bulacan - after being confiscated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in anti-logging operations.

Jonas is not the first to fall victim to enforced disappearances. With 199 victims having been
documented since 2001, he is the 16th victim this year alone.

The enforced disappearances are taking place alongside extra-judicial killings, now numbering more than 800 since 2001.

The victims were known in their communities as government critics. A good number were confirmed to have been active in cause-oriented groups, while the rest were not affiliated with any political organization. In several of the cases, state forces have been identified as the perpetrators.

The recent passage of an Anti-Terrorism Bill that defines terrorism so vaguely that even publishing or producing works with the slightest criticism of the government may be construed as a “terorristic” act should concern all who value the freedom of expression and of the press.

We are indeed at a dark chapter in our country’s history. We urge our fellow writers, artists and journalists to join us in keeping vigil and tearing the curtain of darkness in this night of
our people.

Mayo 28, 2007

Phl - Activist Pastor Abducted after Sunday Service in Laguna

BY BULATLAT

Activist pastor Berlin Guerrero was abducted just outside the local United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) chapel in Biñan, Laguna (35 kms. away from Manila) at 6 p.m. after a Sunday worship service on May 27. According to a statement by the Promotion of Church People's Response (PCPR), Guerrero’s wife and children were shocked as armed men attacked and pointed guns at them as their father was forcibly taken to an L-300 van with the plate covered with paper.

Guerrero's abduction happened exactly a year after another UCCP member and Bayan Muna (People First) regional projects officer Noli Capulong, was gunned down in Calamba, Laguna (52 kms. away from Manila) on May 27, 2006.

“It appears that Pastor Berlin's abductors have learned their lesson from the case of Jonas Burgos – they did not want us to trace the vehicle to the military,” PCPR stated.

Since there was no known enemy of Berlin, church people suspected the abduction was allegedly the work of the military. “No one but the armed forces of this corrupt government have openly labeled social activists and human rights defenders, including activist church members, as enemies of the state and thus, targets for political persecution,” PCPR stated.

Guerrero is a theology student of the Union Theological Seminary, an active member of the Kapatirang Simbahan para sa Bayan (Ecumenical Center for Development) and former staff of the UCCP National Office. Aside from his ecumenical affairs, PCPR also said that his involvement in Bayan Muna and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance)-Southern Tagalog apparently made him a target of political repression. In the late 1970s, Guerrero was elected the founding chair of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP)-Southern Tagalog, leading the campus-based “mosquito press” that exposed the excesses of the Marcos dictatorship.

“Despite international condemnation on the killings and enforced disappearances, the abduction of Pastor Berlin demonstrates the arrogance of the Arroyo government in continuing its policy of repression,” PCPR stated.

Berlin is the 197th victim of abduction under the Arroyo administration. More than 20 activist pastors and lay members of the churches have been victims of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances under the Arroyo government, which, said PCPR, “resorts to virtual martial rule to suppress dissent over its flagrant corruption and human rights violations.”

Members of the UCCP and ecumenical friends in the National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP) have held a prayer vigil and noise barrage at the UCCP Compound in Quezon Ave. today to denounce Guerrero’s abduction.

Meanwhile, House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, author of a bill outlawing forced disappearances, called on the Arroyo government to "immediately surface Berlin, and turn him over to his family, ministry and colleagues."

“The Arroyo government must protect all citizens, regardless of political beliefs,” Ocampo said. “Its security forces must not harm or kill its perceived political opponents. President Arroyo is duty-bound to order the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) to do everything so that Berlin and other desaparecidos are found alive, and see to it that the abductors are punished.”

As of this afternoon, according to Bayan Muna public information officer Anthony Ian Cruz, Guerrero has been able to call up his relatives and inform them that he is in the custody of the PNP at Camp Pantaleon in Imus, Cavite. Bulatlat

Mayo 21, 2007

Phl - Desaparecidos’ Exhibit: A Day of Remembering and Protest

Their loved ones may be missing, but the families of the disappeared have come forward to stand together and protest the continued enforced disappearances under the Arroyo administration.

BY BULATLAT
Vol. VII, No. 15 May 20-26, 2007

It was an exhibit of personal items owned by people of varied personalities. There was an LP record of the Rolling Stones, owned by Jonas Burgos. There was Gloria Soco’s mug, a Christmas gift from her son, unused and still wrapped in a box. A small blue pillow owned by UP student Karen Empeño. An old, faded night shirt of Leopoldo Ancheta. There was Romulos Robiños’s black cap, Gabriel Calubad’s keys, Rogelio Calubad’s shaving kit, Honor Ayroso’s pale red cotton shirt, Cesar Batralo’s cap and corduroy jacket, and a black bag full of clothes owned by Abner Hizarsa.

The objects on exhibit were ordinary, but those who looked around became teary-eyed, for they were looking at objects left behind by their owners, who had become desaparecidos – abducted and still missing under the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. These were shown at the monthly gathering of Hustisya! (Arroyo Regime Victims United for Justice), held at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. The gathering highlighted victims of enforced disappearances under Arroyo, now numbering 199.

Desaparecidos is the Spanish word meaning “the disappeared.” It was coined in Latin America where thousands became victims of enforced disappearance implemented by tyrannical regimes to suppress public outcry for social change.

The gathering was held inside a small hall, where three hand-painted pictures of the latest desaparecidos served as a backdrop: Jonas Burgos, 37 who was abducted in Quezon City April 28, Abner Hizarsa, 55 who was abducted March 22 in Subic, Zambales, and Luisa Posa-Dominado, who was abducted April 12 with Leonilo Arado in Iloilo.

“Bakit sila? Dahil sila’y aktibista (Why them? Because they are activists)” Ghay Portajada, spokesperson of the Families of Desaparecidos for Justice or Desaparecidos, said, referring to all the other victims of disappearance. “Dahil pinili nilang maglingkod sa bayan, magtanggol ng ating karapatan (Because they chose to serve the people, to protect our rights),” she added.

University of the Philippines professor Judy Taguiwalo spoke about Luisa Dominado, or Luing, whom she knew as an 18-year-old activist who became a fellow political detainee in Panay island during the Martial law. Luing is the spokesperson of SELDA, an organization of former political detainees when she was abducted. Taguiwalo said Luing spearheaded the setting up of a memorial in Iloilo city as a tribute to all victims of Martial Law in Panay. “Napaka-ironic na kasama na siya sa hinahanap natin (It’s ironic that she’s among those who are missing now),” she said.

Cris Hizarsa, wife of Abner, said she brought a bag full of Abner’s clothes and other personal items, the same pack she lugged around in her search at military and police camps. “Ilang beses na siyang nadukot, pero natatagpuan din naming sa kulungan (He had been abducted in the past, but he was always surfaced at a certain jail),”she said. Abner had been a peasant organizer in Central Luzon and had been arrested, detained and released for four times. He had retired from organizing in 2000 to manage a small family store but remains a SELDA member when he was abducted.

JL Burgos, younger brother of Jonas, called on other families to participate in a synchronized sending of text messages and email letters at 1:20 pm, on May 28, a month after Jonas’s abduction. “Itext natin: Ilitaw ang mga nawawala! (Let us send text messages, saying: Surface all the disappeared!”

Protest

Evan Hernandez, Hustisya! convener said that the monthly Hustisya gathering are being held as a form of protest and strengthening of the families’ resolve to attain justice. “Nagpupugay tayo sa mga biktima, at nagpoprotesta tayo at naniningil sa gobyernong Arroyo na siyang maysala sa mga paghihirap ng sambayanan (We pay tribute to the victims, and we are protesting against the Arroyo government which is responsible for all the people’s sufferings),” she said.

Abner’s wife Cris urged other families of desaparecidos to continue with their resolve to seek justice.
“Mahirap nang gawin pang miserable ang buhay natin sa nangyari sa kanila. Kaya dapat manindigan pa rin tayo at balang araw, makakasama rin natin sila (Let us not make our lives even more miserable, given what was done to them. Let us remain firm, and one day, we will have them back with us),” said Cris.

A Desaparecidos statement said that Arroyo should sign the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance to curb the cases of disappearance. Desaparecidos said that under the Convention’s definition, enforced disappearance is committed by government officials or by organized groups acting in behalf, or with the support, consent or acquiescence of the government. Under the Convention, signatory states are required to investigate disappearances and punish those who are found guilty.

The Desaparecidos’ statement also noted that the Philippines’ reelection to the United Nations Human Rights Council was “ironic.” “The country’s membership to the recently-created UNHRC has not reflected in any show of respect, much less protection of human rights of Filipinos, as shown by the rising cases of disappearances and extrajudicial killings,” the statement. Bulatlat

Mayo 19, 2007

Philippines denounced for ‘most cruel form of human rights violation’

MANILA — The Families of Desaparecidos for Justice or Desaparecidos condemns the regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for its continued implementation of enforced disappearances, deemed the cruelest form of human rights violations.

Enforced disappearance deprives the victim the right to life, liberty, against torture, and even the right to a decent burial. We, the families of victims have been subjected to risks and continued psychological torture as we continue to search and remain uncertain of the fate of our missing loved ones.

Ironically, the Philippines was reelected yesterday as member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, after finishing a one year term. We at Desaparecidos, however maintain that the country’s membership to the recently-created UNHRC has not reflected in any show of respect, much less protection of human rights of Filipinos, as shown by the rising cases of disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Those who remain missing have reached 199 from 2001 to May this year. From January to May this year, 16 persons were abducted and had remained missing, among them, six are women and one is a minor. In 2006 was recorded the highest number of disappeared, with 75 victims.

As part of the regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya, elite intelligence and operation groups of the Armed Forces of the Philippines have conducted the surveillance, abduction, torture, concealment and possibly execution of their victims, who were mostly members of cause-oriented groups and even the underground Left.

According to the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearances, enforced disappearance is committed by government officials or by organized groups acting in behalf, or with the support, consent or acquiescence of the government, depriving the victim of liberty and placing him/her outside the protection of the law.

Indeed, this had been evident in the testimonies of witnesses and data gathered in cases of disappearance, pointing to the involvement of state security forces, use of government resources and facilities.

· The latest victim, Joseph Jonas Burgos, 37, was abducted by armed men suspected to be soldiers on April 28, at the Ever Gotesco mall in Quezon City. The abductors’ Toyota Revo had the license plate TAB 194 which was traced to an XLT jeep impounded at the 56th ID headquarters in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

· On April 3, Cavite urban poor leader Lourdes “Nay Ude” Rubrico was abducted by armed men who identified themselves as agents of the “NBI” (National Bureau of Investigation) and used a brown van with license plate XRR 428 which was traced to Army Major Darwin Sy.

Nay Ude, 63, who was released on April 10, attested that she was detained at an office of the 301st Air Intelligence and Security Squadron inside the Fernando Basa Air Base. She had since filed criminal and civil charges against several AFP officers.

· Oscar Leuterio, a former security guard in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan, was also abducted last year and kept incommunicado for five months, inside the Fort Magsaysay where he saw other victims of disappearance. He had filed criminal and civil charges against his abductors and captors, including now ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr.

· On April 12 in Cebu , soldiers were the ones who abducted and tortured Bayan Muna coordinator Preciosa Daño, 48 and Kabataan partylist’s Beethoven Avila, 28. The military later released them to the Regional Intelligence Investigation Division in Toledo City.

· On March 27, in Sta. Ana, Pampanga, peasant Villamor Adona was abducted by armed men who carried Armalite rifles with laser devices, which are used by military and police men.

· Soldiers in civilian clothes were the ones involved in the May 7 illegal arrest of Virgilio Borja in Ormoc, Leyte which could have also led to another disappearance, were it not for the presence of Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Teddy Casiño who accompanied Borja.

To stop the continued rise in disappearances, we challenge the Arroyo regime to sign the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance which requires the states to investigate enforced disappearances and punish those who are found guilty of such crime.

For the third Saturday gathering of Hustisya, we would like to remember those who were disappeared this time last year, whose families have spent a whole year searching and seeking justice:

· Manuel Sioson Jr., abducted May 5 in brgy. Lambakin, San Miguel, Bulacan by armed men suspected to be soldiers of the 56th IB PA led by Lt.Col. Noel Clement

Mayo 14, 2007

Phl - Elderly activist’ complaint of abduction against military drags on

The complaint of an elderly activist, Lourdes Rubrico, who was forcibly abducted and disappeared on 3 April 2007 but released seven days later by her perpetrators later identified to be military personnel, is dragging before the office of the Ombudsman.

the complaint filed by Lourdes Rubrico, a known urban poor leader who was earlier abducted and forcibly disappeared for seven days against five military men, including a military major, is dragging on before the Office of the Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (Moleo). Rubrico filed charges against the military men responsible of forcibly abducting her and illegally detaining her for seven days inside a military camp.

On 3 April 2007 around 3:00 pm, Rubrico (a.k.a. Nay Ude), was taking a nap inside a shelter in Megahouse, Sta. Cruz 1, Dasmariñas when four unidentified men forcibly dragged her towards a van waiting outside. The van was light brown in colour with the plate number XRR 428, two other men were inside. Some people who witnessed the incident tried to intervene but they were prevented from doing so when the armed men pointed handguns at them before fleeing the area.

Prior to the incident, Rubrico led a campaign to expose the illegal activity of the organizers of Barangay Alternative Community Leaders (Bacal). The group is reported to be under the oversight of the office of the Provincial Governor of Cavite. They are allegedly collecting sums of money in the amount of P. 5,000 (USD 105) from poor urban families in exchange of promised units at the Megahouse, an abandoned industrial site designated by the National Housing Authority (NHA) as the temporary relocation site for homeless families in Dasmariñas.

Two days later, on April 5, Police Chief Superintendent Fidel Posadas, Cavite Provincial Police Office (CPPO) police director, downplayed Rubrico’s abduction as being related to her involvement as an urban poor leader and accused her of having been involved in a land scam. Chief Supt. Posadas claimed Rubrico is no longer active in the group. However, Rubrico’s colleagues, friends and families met Chief Supt. Posadas’s claim with strong condemnation.

It was only in midnight of April 10 when Rubrico was released by her captors at a shopping mall in Dasmariñas. After she was released, Rubrico recounted that she was interrogated and forced by her captors to admit that she is a member of a leftist organization. They also forced her to admit that her organization, the Ugnayan ng Maralita para sa Gawa at Adhikain (UMAGA) Federation, had links with the leftist groups because it would not have been able to continue operating from the 1980s had there been no assistance from them.

In her statement she said: “I was showed a number of pictures of various individuals and asked if I recognize the faces who were allegedly members of leftist groups. They also forced me to claim that I’m also a member”. It was later found out that Rubrico had been kept somewhere at the headquarters of 301st Air Intelligence and Security Squadron, Philippine Air Force (PAF) Field Station, Fernando Air Base.

She also accused members of the PAF for being responsible for her adduction and illegal detention. Rubrico recounted that had she not signed papers supposedly accepting their offer to cooperate with them and to agree to be their intelligence operative, she would have not been released from their custody. “They made me sign papers, gave me a sim card (phone card) and P200 (USD 4) in order for me to go home,” Rubrico said in her statement.

On April 20, Rubrico filed a formal complaint against her abductors before the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Office (MOLEO) in Quezon City. In her complaint, Rubrico accused Major Darwin Sy, Captain Angelo Cuaresma, Ruben Alfaro, Jimmy Santana, a certain Jonathan and several John Does as responsible for her abduction and illegal detention. Major Sy (a.k.a. Darwin Reyes) is stationed at the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City while the others are in 301st Air Intelligence and Security Squadron, PAF Field Station, Fernando Air Base.

Rubrico charged the respondents for kidnapping and illegal and arbitrary detention for violation of Articles 267 and Article 124 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) respectively. The respondents were also charged for violation under paragraphs (a) and (b) of Section 4 of the Act Defining certain rights of person arrested, detained or under custodial investigation (RA 7438). Paragraph A is refers to the failure of the authorities to inform the victim of her right to remain silent and to be represented by counsel, while Paragraph B is for preventing the members of her immediate family from gaining access to her while in detention.

Rubrico is active in a number of cause-oriented organizations. She is the village coordinator for Bayan Muna (People First), Board of Trustee of the Cavite Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (Cemjp), chairperson of UMAGA Federation. For the past four decades, she devoted her struggle to help the urban poor sector in her municipality of Dasmariñas to acquire decent housing. Her family is one of those who relocated to the locality from Metro Manila in the 1970s.

Mayo 13, 2007

Phl - 2 Army officers quizzed over Jonas’ disappearance

05/12/2007 | 07:38 PM

The military has placed two Army officers under investigation in connection with the disappearance of a left-wing activist, an A3rmy spokesman said Saturday.

Lt. Col. Noel Clement, former commander of the 56th Infantry Battalion, was summoned for questioning Friday over the abduction two weeks earlier of Jonas Burgos, a member of a farmers' group allied with the National Peasant Movement, the country's largest left-wing peasant federation, said army spokesman Lt. Col. Nestor Torres.

Torres said he was not informed about the results of the questioning by the military's provost marshal.

Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano, who replaced Clement as part of a routine reshuffle in January, was suspended Friday "to give him and the investigators a free hand to conduct the investigation," Torres said.

Burgos has not been seen since April 28, when gunmen dragged him from a restaurant inside a mall on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, to a waiting Toyota Revo whose license plate was traced to another vehicle that was impounded last year at the 56th Infantry Battalion camp in Bulacan.

The vehicle was seized by authorities in Bulacan in June 2006 because it was allegedly used in illegal logging, police said.

Burgos, 36, had conducted an organic farming seminar for members of his group earlier in the day and was scheduled to meet family members later but never showed up and did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

Burgos is the son of the late Jose "Joe" Burgos Jr., a prominent crusader for press freedom under ex-dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Witnesses said they saw Burgos struggling as he was being dragged away and telling the gunmen, "Sir, I am just an activist," according to Ruth Cervantes of the human rights group Karapatan.

His abduction is one of the latest in a series of attacks on left-wing activists in the country.

Karapatan has reported that more than 800 people, about half of them left-wing activists, have been killed in alleged politically motivated attacks by suspected security forces since 2001. In addition, about 200 have been abducted and remain missing, it says.

A government commission that investigated the killings last year and a UN human rights expert both concluded in February that soldiers were involved. - AP

Ocampo made the call as the family of desaparecido Jonas Burgos
continued to press the Arroyo government to surface the farmers’
advocate and son of press freedom icon Joe Burgos. The Burgos family
has blamed the military over the abduction and has asked prominent
personalities for support.

Burgos is the 201st desaparecido under the Arroyo government.

HB 4959, which is authored by Ocampo, criminalizes involuntary
disappearances has been passed by the House but remains pending in the
Senate. Senators Ralph Recto, Francis Pangilinan and Jinggoy Estrada
filed separate Senate versions of the measure.

Ocampo stressed that that such law is much needed to provide a legal
framework that would put stiff penalties on those proven guilty as
perpetrators, accessories or even witnesses who refuse to inform the
victim’s relatives or the authorities.

Despite being considered a “crime against humanity” by international
laws, involuntary disappearances are not covered by the Revised Penal
Code, notes Ocampo.

The bill also seeks compensation to families of victims. Lifetime
imprisonment awaits those who will be proven guilty of the crime.

The bill distinguishes the crime as an offense mostly by agents of the
government or commissioned private individuals, explaining that in
past administrations, enforced disappearance is a part of a state
policy mainly against dissenters.

Other bills Bayan Muna hopes to push through the legislative mill in
the next Congress are: the Anti-Torture Bill; the Philippine Human
Rights Code; the Marcos Victims Compensation Act; Freedom of
Information Act;

Mayo 11, 2007

'Ghost' child prisoners languish in RP jails

Many Filipino child offenders are still imprisoned together with adult crime suspects in dirty police jails, a child-welfare group said Tuesday.

Worse, the child offenders are now virtual "ghost" child prisoners because authorities refuse to officially acknowledge their incarceration.

"Until now, the government has yet to officially acknowledge and stop this egregious practice of police child detention and torture, notwithstanding protests aired by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Human Rights Committee against this inhumanity," the Coalition to Stop Child Detention Through Restorative Justice said in a statement Tuesday.

It added these children still languish in police headquarters, stations, and substations under the authority of the Philippine National Police pending inquest proceedings by the Department of Justice, and while awaiting court-issued commitment orders.

These are separate from children previously confined under Bureau of Jail Management and Penology custody in city and municipal jails, it said.

According to the group, President Arroyo may be held liable for allowing this practice to go on.

"As a matter of state norm and practice, the PNP criminally persists in hauling off children to police jails all over the country, save for Cebu City. This brazen violation of the Special Child Protection Act, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child occurs with the President's criminal neglect, if not tacit approval and acquiescence," it added.

"For her refusal and failure to stop this barbarity, the President is ultimately liable for this monstrosity on account of the principle of command responsibility," it added.

The group said Arroyo should take the first step by acknowledging the existence of these ghost children prisoners who lurk in the shadows of police dungeons especially in Metro Manila and major urban centers, "without official acknowledgment, transparency and accountability."

The group also branded as "misleading" Arroyo's claims that the establishment of CRADLE and the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 has stopped the violations of children's rights.

It said the BJMP and the Department of Social Welfare and Development routinely refuse to assume custody over children accused of violating the law unless police produce commitment orders issued by the courts.

BJMP and DSWD have long been justifying this anti-child practice of admitting to their custody only children with court-issued commitment orders by citing their own manual of internal policies and procedures.

The two agencies ignore the Special Child Protection Act (RA 7610) and the country's treaty obligations, it added.

"Such BJMP, DSWD, and PNP practice conspire in condemning children to perpetually suffer from abuses, e.g., tattooing, torture, and sexual abuse, in the hands of the police and adult crime suspects during police detention. Never mind if it takes eons of time for the commitment order to be delivered to DSWD and/or BJMP," it said.

It added the tedious process begins with police paperwork that undergoes evaluation by the prosecutors, and eventually winds up in snail-paced and backlog-ridden courts, then back again to the police, at the expense of children traumatized and brutalized during police incarceration in the interim.

"More children will continue to suffer from this institutionalized violence unless the President observes in good faith the letter and spirit of the law by requiring DSWD and BJMP to assume custody over CAVL even without court orders," it said.

The Coalition urged Arroyo to abrogate the DSWD and BJMP anti-child requirement for the police to produce court-issued commitment orders before admitting CAVL into their custody.

"Rather, police officers should be allowed to immediately turn over, at the precise point of arrest, to CRADLE and other DSWD and/or BJMP facilities all children accused of violating the law without further need of court-issued commitment orders that proves prejudicial to their best interests. This way, the long-standing practice of police child detention and its concomitant evils would be cast into oblivion," it said. - GMANews.TV

Phl - NGOs, militants seek special UN court on killings

MANILA, Philippines -- The European Union and the United Nations should form a special court to try the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the extrajudicial killings in the country, the Concerned Citizens of the Philippines said Friday.

Some 200 members of the group, led by former Transportation and Communication Secretary Josie Lichauco, Bettina Legarda, Marilyn Orosa, national artist Bienvenido Lumbera, Nini Quezon-Avanceña, and lawyer Harry Roque, staged a rally in front of the office of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines at the RCBC Plaza on Ayala Avenue.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) joined the action in support of the concerned citizens' call. Legal leftist organizations have borne the brunt of the killings, which human rights groups estimate have claimed close to 900 lives since Arroyo came to power in 2001.

Other groups that joined the march and rally were Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights), Free Jonas Burgos Movement, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines), Catholic Lay Preachers of the Philippines, and Kubol Pag-asa (Hut of Hope) were some of the organizations which participated in the rally.

Opposition senatorial candidate Sonia Rocco, widow of late senator Raul Rocco, also joined the march.

As the protesters massed in front of the Yuchengco Tower, former Social Welfare secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman, Roque, Edith Burgos, widow of press icon Jose "Joe" Burgos Jr. and mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, Ballsy Aquino-Cruz, daughter of former president Corazon Aquino, Lichauco and Quezon-Avanceña met with Gabriel Munuera Viñals, head of political, economic, trade and public affairs section of the EU delegation and submitted a manifesto seeking the creation of the special court.

They were assured the manifesto would be submitted to EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald.

MacDonald has announced the scheduled visit of a team of experts from EU member-countries on June 4 to assess the needs of the Philippine government so that it could stop and solve various human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances.

Viñals said his office is going "beyond condemnation" with the planned EU mission to the Philippines this June.

"I received the manifesto in behalf of Ambassador MacDonald. I told them that we have gone beyond condemnation...We are not only condemning the killings but actually doing something to help stop the killings," he told INQUIRER.net.

Soliman said the meeting "went very well."

"They [EU] will study what is proposed in the manifesto," said Roque, adding that the EU has expressed its sentiments on the extrajudicial killings in the country, calling these a matter of "utmost importance and concern."

In the meantime, the EU has pledged to send technical assistance to help in the "monitoring and reporting" of extrajudicial killings and the forced disappearances of militant leaders, said Roque.

However, Roque stressed that time was of the essence as the killings continue unabated.

"We hope that the international community will not wait too long," said Roque, adding he hoped the Philippines does not become another Rwanda, where up to 800,000 people are believed to have been killed in a genocide before the international community took notice.

Orosa said they decided to submit the manifesto because of the Arroyo's "inability to stop and solve the killings and kidnappings of young activists."

"The manifesto is an offshoot of a May 3 forum on extra-judicials killings. A professor told us in that forum that we were just talking and that talking wouldn't solve the killings so we agreed to draft a manifesto," Lichauco said.

Lichauco said she and others went as private citizens who want to do something to stop the killings.

"It was [Thomas] Jefferson who said that the first and only object of government is care for human life. We are talking of people's lives here. Life has become cheap in the Philippines, and as private citizens we wanted to do something to stop these killings and abductions of young activists," she told INQUIRER.net.

"There is no doubt in our minds that the Philippine president is responsible, by virtue of command responsibility, for the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of activists since 2001," Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes said.

Reyes said stronger sanctions by the international community against the Arroyo government were needed. He said this included withdrawal of military aid.

"It is apparent that the shaming mechanism of the UN and other international bodies is simply being ignored by Arroyo" he said.

The KMP urged the EC delegation to also talk to the families and organizations of the victims.

"This is to ensure that the Arroyo government would not bombard the mission with black propaganda and so that the mission can see the real human rights situation in the country. We ardently hope that the EU mission can help stop the killings and forced disappearances and help seek justice for the victims," said KMP spokesman Carl Ala.

Ala said any mission that sought to help stop the killings and abductions must be "victim-centered." "Paano lalapit ang witnesses kung gobyerno mismo pumapatay? So magiging useless pagpunta ng EU mission kung ganoon lang gagawin nila [How can the witnesses approach a government that is responsible for the killings? The EU mission would be useless if they would only talk to the government]," he said.

"The justice system has already collapsed," Dulce Sepeda, a Concerned Citizens member, said. She also complained that authorities tasked to investigate these cases are "not moving" and that "they are probably the ones involved."

UN urged not to renew Philippines’s membership to rights council

MANILA — The Philippine human rights organization KARAPATAN, joins the families of victims of human rights violations and concerned Filipinos in urging the United Nations to set up a special tribunal to hear the cases of extrajudicial executions, disappearances and other human rights violations committed by the Arroyo regime against the Filipino people.

Karapatan has, on several occasions, filed cases of human rights violations as well as presented shadow reports on the real human rights situation in the country before the UN treaty bodies and special mechanisms. The most recent efforts are the presentation of cases to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Prof. Philip Alston, in February 2007.

But the Arroyo regime continues to turn deaf ears to the findings and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur as well as other local and international human rights organizations in bringing an end to the spate of summary executions and disappearances in the country. The Philippine Mission representatives in fact have lied to the Human Rights Council by saying that disappearances in the Philippines have been committed only during the Marcos dictatorship but not under the Arroyo regime!

The current call for a creation of a tribunal by the UN will be an added boost to our campaign to bring to the attention of the UN these grave concerns to put an end to the continuing killings, disappearances and other human rights violations as well as to serve justice to the many victims of this regime.

What is ironic is, in the midst of all the intensifying human rights violations currently happening, the Arroyo government has still the gall to apply for an extension of its membership with the UN Human Rights Council which will be heard on May 17, 2007. Today, as we join this call for a creation of a tribunal, we also urge various groups to lobby with the UNHRC not to renew the Philippine government’s application of its membership to the UN body tasked to oversee states’ compliance to human rights treaties and covenants.

With its dreadful record of 858 victims of summary executions and 198 victims of disappearances since it assumed the presidency in 2001 up to the present, the Arroyo regime has no moral ground to renew its membership, let alone be a member of the UNHRC.

Recent cases, reported to our organization and in the media reveal that there is no let up in the violation of people’s rights –

· the abduction and disappearance of Jonas Burgos, son of Press Freedom icon Jose Burgos, on April 28, 2007

· the massacre of peasants - Bobby Quilo, 20 ; Richard Sarillo, 28; Benjamin Gelongga, 72, all from Negros Occidental, by elements of the armed forces of the Philippines.

What the present regime has accomplished is to worsen the human rights situation and has currently nothing respectable to show off as regards its compliance to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and other international human rights instruments it is a signatory of.

The Philippine government has done nothing to honor its pledges made before the UN when it sought membership in the Human Rights Council a year ago. It has in fact a bloody and appalling human rights record and has worsened the human rights situation in the country by the series of killings, disappearances and other human rights violations as well as implementing laws and measures like the CPR, EO 464, EO 546, BP 880 and signing into law the anti-terrorism act deodorized as Human Security Act of 2007, and waging a counter-insurgency war such as the Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and 2 which victimizes more civilians.

Thus, we call on the United Nations to reject the Philippine government’s bid to renew its membership in the Human Rights Council. Doing so would be tolerating a grave human rights violator and allow the continuous suffering of the Filipino people.

PHILIPPINES: Forcible abduction and enforced disappearance

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you the cases regarding the forcible abduction and subsequent disappearance of five more persons, including a mother of two-month-old twins, in separate incidents in March and April 2007. The whereabouts of the victims, namely Josephine Nogoy (32) of Tarlac, Alan Bumanglag of Cagayan, Jonas Joseph Burgos and his companion Melissa Reyes and another person (name unknown) of Quezon City, all in Luzon areas, have remained unknown. All of the victims were either members or have been closely involved in helping peasant groups prior to their abduction.

CASE DETAILS:

The information below are gathered from various sources, including the Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights (Karapatan), a human rights group based in Quezon City, Metro Manila.

At 1:00am on March 27, unidentified armed men onboard two separate vans had arrived at the house of Josephine Nogoy's sister-in-law Divina Guevarra in Purok Masagana, Iba Village, San Jose. One of the vans is black in color while the other is dark brown or maroon. The vans did not bear any license plates with them. The perpetrators numbering around 15 were armed. They were wearing black long sleeves, bonnets and gloves and combat shoes, when they forced their selves in into the house split into two groups where the victim was visiting.

One group, which is composed of eight of men, forced their selves and started threatening by pointing their guns at Divina, her husband and their two children. The others were searching for something inside the house. Upon seeing Nogoy inside, they then forcibly took her into a van waiting outside the house at gunpoint. The armed men sped away taking Nogoy with them. Nogoy's twin children were left behind the Guevarras custody.

At the time of incident, Nogoy was with her twin children visiting the Guevarras family. Not only the perpetrators did forced their selves into the Guevarras the other groups who are companies of those who took Nogoy likewise entered into the nearby house of Patricio family, the Guevarras neighbour. They also threatened and pointed guns at those inside the house asking for the whereabouts of Josephine.

In another incident, another victim Alan Bumanglag (age around in his 40s), a member of Kagimungan, the local chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) in Cagayan, was also reported to have been abducted and disappeared on April 26. Prior to his disappearance, the soldiers attached to the 17th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army allegedly took him inside their camp located in Tanglagan, Gattaran, Cagayan for questioning. He was interrogated for several hours and was only allowed leave there at around 2:00pm. It is reported, however, that three men were reportedly seen following him from the military camp. His whereabouts have been unknown since then.

Two days later in Metro Manila, on 28 April, three more persons were reportedly disappeared after they were allegedly forcibly abducted. According to the information, Jonas Joseph Burgos failed to arrive at their home as he was expected. He already informed his family that he is on his way to home and that he was just somewhere in SM North Edsa by sending SMS message. It was found out later that Burgos, who was with his companion Melissa Reyes and an unnamed person, could no longer be located.

Burgos had promised to arrive at his family's place at around 6:00pm. Although his family kept sending text messages to his mobile phone to ask his whereabouts for all through the night, the family received a message from his mobile at 10:46am on the following morning on April 29 saying: "Sensya na, ligo lang" (I'm sorry, was just taking a bath).

The exchange of text messages continued with the victim's family trying to find out about his condition but the supposed reply from the victims did not make any sense. And when his family called him up, though they were able to speak with him but his voice sounded like he was drugged and his answers are not clear. His family continued on checking him through SMS messages and by calling his mobile phone occasionally. His phone however was off from that whole night until the following morning, April 30.

The family of Burgos' companion Reyes', have likewise reported that she also failed to come home since April 28 evening.

At the time of incident, Burgos, who is a graduate of agriculture from the Benguet State University, had been giving agricultural technology training for members of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB), a chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines) for past nine years. The AMB and KMP are peasant organizations lobbying for the solution of agrarian issues in Central Luzon. Prior to Burgos' disappearance, several leaders and members of the AMB have already been victims of either killings or abductions allegedly committed by security forces in the past.

Burgos is the son of the late Jose "Joe" Burgos Jr., former publisher and editor of the We Forum and Malaya newspapers. The late elder Burgos’ publications are the pioneering alternative press during the Marcos regime. The elder Burgos was also an awarded journalist, a widely known civil libertarian and defender of press freedom until he died in 2003.

As of May 5, various sources reported about the abduction of Burgos, and conveying disappointments of his family about delay in the process of police investigation into disappearance of the victim. The victim's brother, Jose Luis "JL" Burgos, told the media that they have yet received any information on the progress of investigation and the victim’s whereabouts from the authorities. The clue that the police have had so far is the license plate number of the car that was used to take the victims away.

According to the victim's mother, Edith Burgos, they have received further information from several witnesses of her son's abduction. Edith claimed having received a phone call from a man who told her that he should speak to a security guard at another shopping mall where her son was also seen. There has not been made substantial progress so far regarding the victim’s whereabouts.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the concerned authorities requesting for their immediate intervention to effectively investigate in determining the whereabouts of these disappeared victims. The authorities must also ensure that the victims' relatives are actively involved in this process. They must also consider providing protection and security for them if necessary.

Once again, please also renew calls to the Philippine government, in particular the Congress to enact the proposed law which considers acts of enforced disappearance as a criminal offence without delay. The enactment of the bill is an initial step and one of the many ways to ensure that cases of disappearance are properly investigated, adequate compensation and protection are afforded to the victims and their families, amongst others.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Suggested letter:

Dear ________,

PHILIPPINES: Forcible abduction and disappearance of five persons including a mother of two-month-old twin

Case 1:
Name of disappeared victim: Josephine Nogoy (32), a resident of Talaga village, San Jose, Tarlac. She has two-month old twins.
Alleged Perpetrators: Unidentified armed men believed to be military elements
Place of incident: Masagana Zone, Iba village, San Jose town, Tarlac
Date of incident: At around 1:00am on 27 March 2007

Case 2:
Name of disappeared victim: Alan Bumanglag, a member of a peasant group Kagimungan
Alleged perpetrators: Unidentified men believed to have links with the military
Place of incident: In Tanglagan, Gattaran, Cagayan close to the camp of 17th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army
Date of incident: 26 April 2007

Case 3:
Name of disappeared victims:
1. Jonas Joseph Burgos (38), a resident of Tandang Sora, Quezon City. He has one child. He was the Trainor of Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB or Peasants Alliance in Bulacan)
2. Melissa Reyes, a mother of four children
3. Still to be identified male companion
Alleged perpetrators: Unidentified men
Place of incident: At the vicinity of Shoe Mart (SM) North Edsa, Quezon City
Date of incident: At around 6:00pm on 28 April 2007

I am writing to draw your attention to the alleged forcible abduction and subsequent disappearance of five persons, including a mother of two-month-old twins, in separate incidents in March and April 2007. I have learned that the whereabouts of victims Josephine Nogoy (32) of Tarlac, Alan Bumanglag of Cagayan, Jonas Joseph Burgos of Quezon City and his two companions, Melisa Reyes and another person (name unknown), all in Luzon areas, have remained unknown.

On March 27, Nogoy was forcibly abducted by armed men while visiting her sister-in-law's house in Tarlac. She was with her two-month-old-twin when the perpetrators forcibly took her. On April 26, Bumanglag was allegedly abducted following his release from a military camp of the 17th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army, where he was subjected for questioning. On April 28, Jonas Joseph Burgos and his companions, Melissa Reyes and another unnamed person, were reportedly forcibly abducted at the vicinity of a mall in Quezon City.

I am extremely shocked and completely disappointed by the disappearances that took place within a short span of period. I therefore urge you to exhaust all means to ensure these cases are properly and effectively investigated. Any investigation conducted on these cases must aim at locating the victims' whereabouts and to the alleged perpetrators. The investigating authorities must also closely coordinate with the disappeared victims' relatives and families. The loss and trauma the victims' families have to suffer as a result of these incidents is enormous, therefore, the authorities must practice high level of efficiency and sensitivity in dealing these.

I am aware that these cases added to the alarming and increasing cases of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings taking place all over the country. I am completely disappointed of the government's either failure or incapability to prevent these incidents from taking place and to prosecute those responsible. While I deeply appreciate the government's limited actions in addressing the country's deteriorating human rights condition, however, I am not satisfied of the progress. Once again I urge you to exert more effort and take pro-active measures in protecting the lives of your citizens. The cases of enforced disappearance and unabated extra-judicial killings have no place in a civilized society like yours.

Once again, I renew my call to your government to consider the enactment of the proposed bill, which considers acts of forcible and enforced disappearance as a criminal offence without delay. By enacting this law, it could provide greater mechanism for police, assistance and adequate compensation to the families of disappeared victims. This could help prevent cases of disappearance if not totally eradicating it. Unless there is an existing mechanism where authorities are mandated by law to act on, there is a negligible expectation to improve the situation.

EU team aims to aid Philippines in probes of political killings

May 10, 2007, 6:15 GMT

Manila - The European Union said Thursday that it would dispatch a team of experts to the Philippines in June to assess what form of assistance the government there needs in resolving a spate of extrajudicial political killings in the country.

The team would be composed of three officials from the Brussels-based European Commission (EC) and up to five police, technical and human-rights experts from EU countries, said Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of an EC delegation in Manila.

'The team is likely to arrive on the 4th of June, and they'll be here for 10 days,' he said. 'They're going to make an assessment of needs. They're not going to make an assessment of the killings.'

'They'll be discussing with Philippine authorities ... as to what technical support they need to help them carry forward more effectively in their investigation and prosecution,' he added.

MacDonald said the team was expected to submit a recommendation of what kind of assistance the EU or individual member countries could give the Philippines in efforts aimed at putting a stop to the political killings.

According to the Philippine human-rights group Karapatan, close to 900 people have become victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines since 2001. Most of the victims are leftist, political, human-rights and labour activists.

There have also been about 180 cases of forced disappearances of activists in the same period.

Activists have accused the military of being behind most of the attacks.

Several foreign fact-finding missions, including one conducted by a UN human-rights investigator, have concluded that the armed forces could indeed be blamed for most of the killings and forced disappearances.

Mayo 9, 2007

Burgos kin to Arroyo: Probe Army's 56th IB officers, men

The Burgos family said on Wednesday that it already considers soldiers of the Philippine Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion as “prime suspects" in the April abduction of Jonas Joseph at a mall in Quezon City.

JL Burgos, the victim’s younger brother told GMANews.TV that Army men of the 56th IB headed by Lt. Col. Meliciadez Feliciano should be immediately investigated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) “because all evidence so far gathered by our family give clear clues that the 56th IB could be behind the abduction of Jonas."

“We consider them now as suspects. The plate of the car used in the abduction of my brother clearly points to the fact that the crime emanated from the 56th IB’s turf," said JL.

JL said “it is now the time for" President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the officials of the AFP to prove their “sincerity in helping our family and put an end to these disappearances."

He said his family talked on Tuesday with Brigadier General Delfin Bangit, deputy chief of staff for intelligence of the AFP. JL said Bangit promised that he will help the Burgos family look for Jonas and those who perpetrated his abduction.

“Our family is counting on their promises. They said they will immediately solve this case. We now have a suspect. Now is the time," said JL.

It was earlier reported that the plate number of the vehicle used in Jonas' abduction inside a restaurant at the Ever Gotesco Mall was the same plate number – TAB 194 - earlier attached to a vehicle parked at the 56th IB’s camp in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

The Burgos family owns a one hectare farm in San Miguel, Bulacan, supervised by Jonas who is an agriculturist and promotes the practice of organic farming. JL said his brother also helps small farmers in their area under the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan, learn farming technologies that are more sustainable and environment-friendly.

JL said that his brother’s abduction “adds to the pattern of involuntary disappearances" in the province.

“We can call it a penchant for abducting persons who are being critical of the government and suspected of being communists. This is the paranoia in Bulacan that has triggered the unexplained disappearances of several people in the area. My brother Jonas is among the victims of this military paranoia," JL said.

Last November, workers from the Metal Ore Mining Company in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan were allegedly detained by members of the 56th IB. The International Labor Solidarity mission said the workers were released after the barangay captain filed a police blotter and negotiated for their release.

Also in June, University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan and their peasant companion Manuel Merino were abducted in Hagonoy, Bulacan. Some believed that the same battalion was involved in their disappearance. - GMANews.TV

Mayo 5, 2007

Phl - 'Disappeared' Activist Lives to Tell Her Tale

Stella Gonzales

MANILA, May 4 (IPS) - Lourdes Rubrico could easily have been an added statistic to the growing list of Filipino activists who have been abducted by suspected agents of the government and were never heard of again

Rubrico fits the profile of scores of people listed as 'disappeared'. She was an active urban poor community leader and had been involved in community organising for the past two decades. On April 3, the 63-year-old was abducted by what human rights groups believe were military men. A frantic search for her and requests for police assistance yielded negative results. Her case was listed by rights groups as one of "enforced disappearance".

Then seven days later, she was released unharmed by her captors for reasons still unclear to her. Her abduction, however, was just a portent of the ordeal that she and her family would be going through.

On Apr. 23, days after Rubrico talked to the media about her abduction and after she filed a formal complaint, a group of hooded men in camouflage uniforms and armed with handguns scoured the neighbourhood searching for her daughter. (During her captivity, Rubrico's captors had threatened her that they would go after one of her four children if something went wrong.)

Rubrico and her children now fear for their lives. They cannot go home and are on the run from people trying to hunt them down. "We are like wild boars. We are forced to hide," Rubrico told IPS in an interview in a coffee shop in a crowded mall in Metro Manila.

In her account, Rubrico had just attended a "pabasa" (a traditional reading of the Passion of Christ that is held during Lent) on the afternoon of Apr. 3 and was resting in a shelter in Dasmariñas town, Cavite province just south of Manila when three men in plainclothes alighted from a van. The men, who claimed to be agents of the National Bureau of Investigation, said they were "inviting" Rubrico for questioning. They had no identification cards and could not present an arrest warrant when Rubrico demanded one.

They forced Rubrico into their van and then blindfolded her. One of the men apologised and told her they were just doing their job. Another assured her there was nothing to worry about: "We will not harm you."

After a journey of about four hours, Rubrico was told to get off the vehicle. "I was frightened. I thought they were going to kill me. They were taking me to a grassy place. I could feel the grass under my feet as I walked," Rubrico told IPS. Her captors took her to a room and then removed her blindfold. Someone greeted her: "Welcome, Nay Ude." (Nay Ude is Rubrico's nickname. Nay is short for "nanay," or mother.) One man, who would be her principal interrogator for the days to come, accused her of being a member of the communist New People's Army (NPA). But she answered back that she was too old to be a member of the NPA.

"I am only the president of an organisation," she told him. The man said her organisation would not have lasted long without the backing of the NPA. Then he rattled off names and showed her pictures of people, but Rubrico said she did not know any of them. "Our organisation is even registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission," she said, referring to her group Ugnayan ng mga Maralita sa Gawa at Adhika (Association of the Poor in Action and Aspiration). "They even know of us at the (Damariñas) municipal hall."

The interrogation went on for seven days, Rubrico said. Her captors allowed her to rest and gave her food because, they told her, they did not want to be accused of violating her human rights. They also gave her a change of clothes and told her to take a bath.

In the meantime, Rubrico's son, who was searching for her, was told by the local police not to worry about his mother. He told IPS that one police officer even assured him that his mother had been clothes, slippers and anti-asthma medicine. This bolstered the family's belief that the police had knowledge about the military-led abduction.

Rubrico said there were times when her captors would argue about what they should do to her. Some said they should just dig a grave and kill her, but others were insistent that she was a good person and should not be harmed. On the seventh day of her captivity, they offered Rubrico a deal: she would be released if she agreed to become their "asset" (informer). They gave her a document to sign and took her picture with a sign identifying her as "deputy secretary general urban committee," (apparently of the NPA). When Rubrico protested, her captors told her to take it easy: "We just want a remembrance."

Finally, they left her alone in the room and told her to rest. Rubrico said the room appeared to be an office. It had a table and two chairs. There was a window near the ceiling and she could see trees outside. There were times when she could hear children's voices, planes and vehicles.

Sensing that her captors outside the room were asleep, Rubrico rifled through the drawers. She deduced from documents she found that she was being held at the Fernando Air Force Base in Batangas province. (This would become the basis of her complaint later.) It was dark when Rubrico was once more blindfolded and then taken to a vehicle by her captors. They dropped her off outside a mall in Cavite and gave her 200 pesos (four US dollars) for her fare home.

Rubrico said she does not know why her captors spared her life. But during her interrogation, she said, she kept telling them about the Bill of Rights. She said she was also insistent that her organisation was legally recognised and that its members go through the legal process when fighting for their rights.

Several times she asked them when they planned to release her. "I know that when you abduct people, you kill them," she had told them. "So when do you plan to kill me?" But her captors would tell her that they would not kill her because they, too, have mothers.

When IPS interviewed Rubrico a few days after armed men went to their neighbourhood to search for her daughter, there was rage in the urban poor leader's eyes. "I am angry because I know we won't win the case," she said, referring to a complaint she filed on April 20 against her abductors before the military ombudsman.

After being released, Rubrico did not seek police assistance because she believes they colluded with her military captors.

Just after Rubrico's abduction, one daughter and two other eyewitnesses were brought by policemen to an isolated place where a police sketch artist supposedly lived. The three, fearing they might be liquidated instead, sent mobile phone text messages to their families and friends who were able to take the witnesses back from the police.

And on the night she was released, Rubrico said, their vehicle was stopped at three checkpoints but her captors merely paid off those who were manning them. "We have nobody to run to, not even the police," Rubrico said.

The human rights group Families of Desaperecidos for Justice said "the motive, the resources, and the manner by which (Rubrico) was abducted, interrogated and illegally detained, all point to the military as the perpetrators." It called on the government to surface all those who have been abducted, believing that many are being detained, interrogated and tortured in military camps, detachments and so-called safe houses. It said most of the victims were activists and supporters of groups which the government of President Gloria Arroyo had marked as "enemies of the state''.

According to the rights group Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND), there have been 188 cases of "disappearances" in the country since 2001, the year Arroyo assumed the presidency. Of this figure, 81 have surfaced alive while 17 were found dead. The rest are still missing. (END/2007)

Mayo 3, 2007

Bayan says 'disappearances' escalating in last 3 months

The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Thursday expressed alarm over the rising number of "enforced disappearances" highlighted by the recent abduction of Jose Burgos Jr's son, Jonas.

n a statement on its website (www.bayan.ph), Bayan said the labduction of Burgos shows "imprints of military operation."

"The abduction of Jonas Burgos is the latest in a wave of abductions and disappearances that have targeted leftist activists. The figures are staggering. The methods show sheer impunity and a total disregard for the law," said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr.

He said there had been more than 800 victims of extrajudicial killings but this still does not show the whole picture of repression.

Reyes said there are now almost 200 victims of enforced disappearances, almost all of whom have yet to surface.

"The number of dead may be far higher than what is being reported," Reyes said.

Citing Bayan's figures, he said that over the past three months, there were several cases of reported abduction of activists in Cavite, Cebu and Iloilo.

Among those abducted were Nilo Arado, the chairman of Bayan in Panay and former political prisoner Luisa Dominado.

Reyes said that unlike extrajudicial killings wherein only half of the total victims are organized activists, the victims of enforced disappearances are almost all activists.

"Unlike in cases of extrajudicial killings where there are bodies present, enforced disappearances leave people speculating if the person is still alive or dead. Disappearances are therefore as cruel as extrajudicial killings. Perhaps state forces think that the public outrage over disappearances may be less compared to the public outrage in cases of extrajudicial killings," he said.

"It is too early for the Philippine National Police to dismiss the angle that the military is involved. Nor could we dismiss the angle that operatives of the police are also involved. Whoever abducted Burgos appeared to have acted with authority and were unmindful of the many witnesses in the abduction," he added.

On the other hand, he said the climate of impunity that has caused the deaths of activists and journalists in the country only emboldens state security forces to commit enforced abductions without fear of the law.

"We join other human rights advocates in calling for the immediate surfacing of Jonas Burgos. We hold the Arroyo regime ultimately accountable for its failure to stop violent attacks on legal activists. We firmly believe that the Arroyo regime maintains a policy of repression and annihilation against the legal Left," he said. - GMANews.TV

Mayo 2, 2007

Phil - Armed men seen taking Burgos' son in QC mall

MANILA, Philippines -- Finally, a lead in the disappearance of Jonas Joseph Burgos.

Two days after the son of the late press freedom icon Joe Burgos mysteriously vanished in Quezon City, his family received word from eyewitnesses that he had been abducted by "military-looking" men.

But Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, denied the AFP was involved and said it was "unfair" for militant groups to implicate the military in the incident without evidence and to issue statements "filled with malice."

"We have checked it and there are no reports that Jonas is under the custody of the AFP," Bacarro said.

Burgos' widow Edith said witnesses reported that they saw eight armed men accost her 36-year-old son on Saturday inside the Ever Gotesco mall on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, cover his face with a sack and beat him before dragging him into a maroon-colored van.

Edith said some of the men were "clean-shaven" and "appeared like members of the military."

Two others -- a woman identified as Melissa Reyes and an unidentified man -- were earlier reported to have disappeared with Jonas but the witnesses gave no account of the two and Edith had no further details about them.

Edith said the witnesses identified Jonas after his photograph was shown on television newscasts on Monday following her news conference. She said she was grateful that clues regarding her son's possible whereabouts had surfaced.

"But having heard that he may have possibly been abducted by these people scares me," Edith said.

Jonas is one of five children of Joe Burgos, the late publisher of We Forum and Malaya newspapers that challenged press restrictions during the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos. For his efforts, the International Press Institute named Joe Burgos one of the world's 50 Press Freedom Heroes of the Century.

Appeal to Arroyo: 'Do your job'

In an interview over dzBB radio Tuesday, Edith was asked to react to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Labor Day message in 2006 for "destabilizers" to stop their campaign and allow her to do her job.

Edith said she was taking the President's word for it and asked Ms Arroyo to "please just do your job" as Commander in Chief and "send word to the field that whoever is holding Jonas should free him immediately."

She said she and other supporters were planning to go to different military camps to look for Jonas.

"Any other information regarding my son would be greatly appreciated," she said.

Edith said at Monday's press conference that she last heard from her son on Saturday when he replied to a relative's text message, saying he was on his way home from SM North Edsa mall. She explained that the family was meeting regarding the future of We Forum that night.

Is training a crime?

Jonas, an agriculture graduate of Benguet State University, had conducted an organic farming training earlier on Saturday in San Miguel, Bulacan, for the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB), a chapter of the militant peasant organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

AMB and KMP are both militant peasant organizations that advance agrarian issues and the struggle of farmers in Central Luzon. Some KMP members were among the more than 800 victims of extrajudicial executions since 2001 (the Philippine Daily Inquirer count is 301).

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo, who authored a bill seeking a ban on enforced disappearances now pending in the Senate, expressed grave concern that the younger Burgos had become the latest "desaparecido" (disappeared).

"If the Armed Forces of the Philippines has a case against him, the AFP should go to court and not resort to extrajudicial measures," Ocampo said in a text message to the Inquirer.

"But what is his crime? Is it now a crime to provide agro training to organized farmers?" Ocampo added.

Disappearances

As of March 2007, the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), an organization founded in 1985 by relatives, friends and colleagues of desaparecidos, had listed 188 cases of disappearances in the country since 2001.

Last year, 77 people were reported missing, an almost 200-percent jump from the 26 recorded in 2005.

Reelectionist Sen. Ralph Recto Tuesday said the government should put in as much effort in looking for the missing son of Joe Burgos as it did in its search for US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell who was found murdered last month.

"The country owes the Burgos family a great deal of gratitude for the freedom it enjoys today that it should repay their valor by finding a missing kin," said Recto.

"During dangerous times, his father did not disappear for teaching us about freedom so why should his son go missing for simply teaching some folks about farming in these supposedly normal times?"

Abril 30, 2007

EU Parliament Says Political Killings in Philippines a Growing Problem

In a resolution on the Philippines, adopted by 68 votes to 0 with 0 abstentions, Parliament draws attention to the number of politically motivated killings in the country, which it says has risen dramatically in recent years, as well as the general human rights situation in the country.

The local human rights organisation Karapatan has recorded 180 forced disappearances and over 800 killings, most of them by unidentified gunmen, since 2001. Most of those killed, such as opposition party members, church people, community leaders, peasants, journalists, lawyers, human rights activists, trade unionists, have been accused by the government of being front organisations for illegal armed groups and ‘terrorists’.

In a positive development, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has appointed a high-level independent commission to examine the problem and a national-level police task force to investigate the killings. The commission’s findings indicate army involvement in the political killings. In response to its recommendations, President Arroyo has issued a 6-point plan to stop the killings. However, MEPs believe all this is far from enough.

Authorities urged to investigate rise in political killings

In its resolution Parliament expresses “grave concern at the increasing number of political killings that have occurred in recent years in the Philippines and “urges the Philippine authorities to make the necessary investigations in a timely, thorough and transparent manner and to bring those responsible to justice”.

It also “condemns in the strongest terms the murder of Ms Siche Bustamante-Gandinao, a dedicated human rights activist….and is concerned about the lack of any police investigation concerning this important case”.

Anti-terrorism measures likely to lead to arbitrary arrests

MEPs believe that “the adoption of the Human Security Act 2007, which will enter into force in July 2007, is liable to further increase the incidence of human rights violations by the Security Forces because it will allow arrest without warrant and arbitrary detention”. Parliament also “denounces attacks on legal opposition groups”.

It welcomes the progress made but says the government must “adopt measures to end the systematic intimidation and harassment of witnesses in connection with prosecutions for killings” and “ensure truly effective witness protection”.

It is also important “to stop inciting violence towards certain political or civil-society groups and to restore normal accountability mechanisms to check government abuses”. The Ombudsman is urged to “take seriously his constitutional role in responding to extrajudicial killings attributed to public officials”.

Abolition of death penalty welcomed

While welcoming the signing by President Arroyo of legislation abolishing the death penalty in the Philippines, the EP calls on the Philippines to ratify the newly adopted UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances.

Call for freedom of political expression ahead of elections

The climate of impunity “has a corrosive impact on public confidence in the rule of law” and the killings are “creating a climate in which people in the Philippines cannot feel free to exercise their rights of political expression and association”, says the resolution. The President is urged to “take immediate action in order to prevent the risk of further escalation of violence before and during the upcoming polls”.

Lastly, those applying for the redistribution of land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme must be protected and indeed the land reform programme must be accelerated in order to curb one of the root causes of political violence, say MEPs. (EU Parliament News Service)

Phil - Group hits disappearance of Joe Burgos' son

The families of Desaparecidos for Justice (Desaparecidos) condemned on Monday the mysterious disappearance of Jonas Joseph Burgos and Melisa Reyes over the weekend in Quezon City.

"This is a brazen act which only state security forces will have the motive and gall to carry out. It’s ironic that it happened to a member of the Burgos family that had opposed and survived Martial Law and still continues to defend civil rights and press freedom," Desaparecidos spokesperson Ghay Portajada said in a statement.

GMANews.TV tried to reach Armed Forces information chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro for his reaction but would not answer calls to his mobile phone.

Jonas or Jay-jay is the son of the late Jose "Joe" Burgos Jr, a seasoned journalist who was once jailed for criticizing the repressive regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Jay-jay, 36, failed to come home to his family in Tandang Sora, Quezon City on April 28. His family tried to contact him through his cellphone the whole night, but it was only at 10:46 a.m. the next day that they received messages from him which did not make any sense, the Desaparecidos statement said.

His family was still able to talk to him on the phone but his voice sounded drowsy and his words did not make sense as if he were drugged, it added.

At the time of their disappearance, Jay-jay had been giving agri technology trainings to members of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB), a provincial chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.

Portajada lamented that Jay-jay’s disappearance happened, not in a remote village in the countrysides, but here in Quezon City where there is much presence of both police and military elements.

"We call on the responsible elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to surface Jay-jay and Melisa. We dare the Arroyo administration to solve this disappearance, and use all possible resources and technologies to locate Jay-jay, whose phone is still active and could actually be tracked," Portajada said.

"We pray that Jay-jay and Melisa will be surfaced alive, just like urban poor leader Lourdes "Nay Ude" Rubrico, who was abducted and detained by intelligence agents for one week at the Fernando Basa Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas," Portajada added.

Desaparecidos said that there are now a total of 198 victims of enforced disappearances during the six years under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. - GMANews.TV

Abril 29, 2007

Phl: Abducted Urban Poor Leader Files Charges

When 63-year-old urban poor leader Lourdes “Nay Ude” Rubrico was abducted by armed men on April 3, she had prepared herself to die. For one week she was illegally detained, interrogated and threatened by some 20 men in an air force camp in Batangas province, yet she lived and was released by her captors. On April 20, she filed criminal and administrative charges against her abductors and captors, whom she identified as military officers and men.

BY DEE AYROSO
Bulatlat

A woman urban poor leader who survived abduction has filed criminal and administrative charges at the Ombudsman against military officers and men, whom she said forcibly took her, interrogated and detained her illegally for one week in an air force camp in Batangas province.

Lourdes “Nay Ude” Rubrico, 63, chair of Ugnayan ng Maralita sa Gawa at Adhika (Urban Poor Association for Action and Aspiration, UMAGA Federation) said she was kept incommunicado after her abduction on April 3, and was released only April 10 after she signed a paper agreeing to become a military “asset”.

“Kung hindi ko gagawin iyon, mabubulok ako doon” (If I didn’t sign, I would be made to rot there), she said. It was the only way she could go home, and now she wants to get back at those who violated her rights, she said.

On April 20, Nay Ude was accompanied by her children when she filed complaints at the Ombudsman in Quezon City against her abductors and captors whom she named as Capt. Angelo Cuaresma, Ruben Alfaro, Jimmy Santana, a certain Jonathan of the Philippine Air Force intelligence, and Major Darwin Sy of the Philippine Army whose vehicle was used in her abduction. Cuaresma belonged to the 301st Air Intelligence and Security Squadron based in Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas where Nay Ude was detained for seven days.

The criminal charges she filed against the men were warrantless arrests, illegal detention, and coercion. She also filed an administrative case of abuse of public authority.

Saying that her abductors failed to break her spirit, Nay Ude said she is determined to fight back. “Ipagpapatuloy ko ang paglaban. Habang buhay na lang ba tayo di kikibo? Paano naman ang iba na dinukot at di pa nakikita?” (I will continue the fight. Are we going to be silenced forever? How about the others who were also abducted and still remain missing?)

Interrogation

It was April 3, Holy Tuesday when Nay Ude was abducted from a Holy Week gathering of her group outside a house in Megahouse, Sta. Cruz 1 village, Dasmariñas town, Cavite province. The abductors woke her from her nap and introduced themselves as agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

While she resisted, Nay Ude was dragged into a waiting brown van with plate number XRR 428, where she saw Jimmy Santana, a military intelligence who frequents the Dasmariñas municipal hall. She was then blindfolded and taken for a four-hour ride. Nay Ude said she was brought to an air-conditioned office where she could hear planes landing and taking off. She later managed to snitch a document from a desk in that office, which was a mission order with the heading “Confidential, 301st Air Intelligence and Security Squadron, PAF Field Station, Fernando Air Base.” The plate number of the vehicle was traced to Major Darwin Sy of the Phil.Army.

In that office for seven days, some 20 men took turns interrogating her, repeatedly asking about her connection with the underground left, and about certain names and their whereabouts. In protest, she refused to eat anything and subsisted only on water.

She said most of the men seem to be young, although their faces were covered with handkerchiefs. They addressed her as “Nay Ude”, and most of them could not stand up against her reasoning. And when her captors were brusque, she would shout back at them.

“Aminin mo na, NPA ka” (Admit it, you are with the New People’s Army) Nay Ude recalled how one of her captors insisted.

She recalled that her interrogators reasoned out that no organization would last long without the support of the communists.

“Bakit pa kami nagtitiyagang nagbabayad ng buwis? Di sana pumunta na lang kami sa bundok! Para saan pa ang SEC registration? Dapat sana alisin na lang yun kung komunista pala. At sabi sa batas, sa Bill of Rights, magbuo ng organisasyon, may kalayaan tayong magsalita… Kami ba lumabag sa batas?” (If we are rebels, why do we bother to pay taxes? We could have just gone to the mountains. Is the SEC registration useless? They should just discard that if they knew we were communists. And the law provides, in the Bill of Rights, that we could form organizations, that we have freedom of speech. What law have we broken?) she said.

During her interrogation, Nay Ude repeatedly explained to her interrogators that UMAGA Federation increases in membership because it organizes informal settlers to fight for their right to shelter. “Kami ang hinahanap ng tao kasi nakakatulong kami sa mga dinedemolish para magkaroon ng matitirhan, makahanap ng mapagbabahayan. Nagbabayad naman kami (People look for us because we help those who get demolished to find homes. And we pay for our home lots),she said.

UMAGA Federation is a member of the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap or Kadamay. Nay Ude’s group has eight affiliate organizations in different towns in Cavite, and nearby cities in Metro Manila.

Nay Ude said that when her interrogators ran out of questions and reasons, they would be silent and leave the room, to be replaced by the next batch of interrogators. Although she was not tortured, Nay Ude got headaches, and an asthma attack which made her captors panic. They immediately brought her medicine and pleaded with her to eat. Nay Ude said she still refused to eat, and sarcastically asked for poison.

Release

On the third day, Nay Ude said she went wild and screamed at her captors. The men then blindfolded her, took her outside and started digging. To this she cried and scorned her captors. “Wala ba kayong mga puso? Bakit ninyo ako ginaganito? (Have you no hearts? Why are you doing this to me?)

From the start, Nay Ude said she had prepared herself to death. She told her captors to just make sure that they leave her body by the roadside, for her family and friends to find. The men brought her back inside.

After that, Jimmy Santana asked her to sign a piece of paper which says she agrees to be an “asset.” Nay Ude said Santana offered money and “a good life” but she refused, saying she doesn’t need anything because she was already old.

On April 10, Santana again asked Nay Ude to sign the agreement, threatening that he could no longer ensure that she will live if she did not sign. Realizing it was her only way out, Nay Ude signed it, after which the men congratulated her and shook her hand. Santana gave her a SIM card which she was supposed to use to report to him when to capture a certain Yolly and Leny.

At 8:30 pm April 10, her captors blindfolded her and brought her to a vehicle, which dropped her off at SM Pala-Pala, Cavite.

Under threat

Nay Ude said she and her family had left their compound in Dasmariñas for fear of a military reprisal. She said Santana threatened to find her if she did not comply with the agreement.

While she recovers from her ordeal, Nay Ude is assured that her group members are carrying on with the tasks. Members of the UMAGA Federation have set up a picket at the Megahouse because of threats of a demolition from their rival group, Barangay Alternative Community Leaders (BACAL). BACAL was organized under the office of the Provincial Governor and collects P5,000 from the urban poor families promising that they will be given housing units in Megahouse.

This week, Janice Gomez, the witness to her abduction was warned by BACAL that her house was to be demolished by the police. Nay Ude, however said that Janice’s house stands on the area which government had already agreed to award to residents.

Proof

The organization Families of Desaparecidos for Justice (Desaparecidos) said that Nay Ude’s testimony is proof that the state employs enforced disappearance as a means to weaken its perceived “enemies.”

Ghay Portajada, Desaparecidos spokesperson said: “Victims are abducted, tortured, and interrogated by military forces, who use government vehicles, and hide victims in military camps, headquarters, and government offices. This has been attested to by those who were abducted and surfaced either in prison, or were sent home after being coerced into becoming assets of the military.”

She said Nay Ude’s ordeal shows the pattern used by state forces, in which a victim was abducted, brought to a safehouse or headquarters where they tried to extract information from her at the same time break her through interrogation. This is followed by converting her to their side, offering money in exchange for the capture of another leader or organizer.

Portajada cited the recent case of two leaders who were abducted in Cebu City on April 12. Preciosa Daño, a Bayan Muna coordinator and Kabataan partylist coordinator Beethoven Avila were abducted by elements of the Military Intelligence Group, who beat them up and tried to force them to admit involvement in the underground left. The two were turned over by their abductors to the Philippine National Police when their groups started picketing the Cebu Central Command headquarters.

Portajada also cited Oscar Leuterio, a former security guard who was abducted by the military and kept incommunicado for five months at the Fort Magsaysay, and was allowed to go home after he promised to work for them.

“And as the military gets the crime done, it is the Philippine National Police which tries to cover it up with its so-called investigation. It may be recalled that after Nay Ude’s abduction, the PNP came out with a statement that she was involved in a land scam in Cavite,” said Portajada.

Nay Ude’s daughter, Joy, 25, said that they were suspicious that the PNP were also involved. On April 6, Capt. Arsenio Gomez of PNP Cavite tried to take her and the two witnesses, Janice Gomez and Rizalina Ramirez to Siniguelasan, a remote village where there was a cartographer. When her older brother asked why they couldn’t do it in the office, the police officer told him not to ask questions. Fortunately, Joy had texted members of the Federation who were able to follow them and return them home.

Portajada said that abduction victims who escaped, were surfaced in prison, or were allowed to go home are few; many remain missing. Desaparecidos call is to open military camps, detachments and safehouses to random searches by the families of the disappeared.

“We hail Nay Ude for her shining courage as she fights back and moves to get justice served against those who violated her rights. She risks everything, her family, but she knows she has to continue to fight.” Bulatlat

Abril 20, 2007

Philippines: Abduction and disappearance of Mrs. Josephine Nogoy

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights (KARAPATAN), a member of the SOS-Torture network, about the abduction of Mrs. Josephine Nogoy, 32 years old, married with two-month old twins, resident of Talaga village, in Tarlac province, Central Luzon, by armed men, allegedly military elements, on 27 March 2007.

According to the information received, Mrs. Josephine Nogoy was abducted while she was visiting, with her two-month old twins, her sister-in-law, Mrs. Divina Guevarra, at their house in Purok Masagan, Iba village, San Jose town. At around 1:00 am on 27 March 2007, two vans, one colored black, another dark brown or maroon and without license numbers, came to the Guevarra’s house. About 15 armed men wearing black long sleeves, bonnets and gloves and combat shoes, reportedly got out of the vans and divided into two groups.

According to the information, one group of eight armed men forcibly entered the Guevarra’s house and threatened all the members of the Guevarra’s family (two adults and two children) at gunpoint. They reportedly searched the rooms and when two of the armed men saw Mrs. Josephine Nogoy, they forced her at gunpoint out of the house and into one of the waiting vans outside.

The other group of about seven armed men reportedly barged into the neighboring house of the Patricio family allegedly in search of Mrs. Josephine Nogoy. The armed men also reportedly threatened the Patricio family at gunpoint.

The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Mrs. Josephine Nogoy, as her whereabouts remain unknown, giving rise to fears that she may be subjected to ill-treatment, torture or potentially extra-judicial execution. OMCT calls on the authorities to immediately locate her whereabouts and guarantee her personal integrity at all times.

Action requested

Please right to the authorities in the Philippines urging them to:

i. Immediately locate Mrs. Josephine Nogoy’s whereabouts;

ii. Take all measures necessary to guarantee her physical and psychological integrity;

iii. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of the abduction and disappearance, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;

iv. Guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.

Diciembre 8, 2006

Forced disappearances an ignored malaise in Philippines

(DPA)
23 November 2006

MANILA - Ghay Portajada was only 12 years old when her father, a labour leader, disappeared in 1987 after being abducted by gunmen outside a Philippine factory where he and employees were holding a picket.

Almost two decades later, Portajada still does not know for sure what has become of her father, Armando, who was 55 years old when he was seized by armed men in metro Manila’s Makati City on July 31, 1987.

“Sometimes, when I see someone who looks like my father, I run to him to check his face and make sure,” Portajada, spokeswoman for the Families of Desaparecidos for Justice (Desaparacidos), said. “The man might be my father. There’s still that hope.”

But Portajada admitted that sometimes, it was hard to keep the faith especially amid a growing number of extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances in the Philippines now.

Worse, an Asian human rights group said Philippine authorities were not investigating cases of forced disappearances, which could help families find missing relatives.

According to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), which recently released a report on a fact-finding mission in July, authorities such as the police “require a dead body in order to launch investigations.”

“This is a very significant problem,” Michael Anthony, a programme coordinator of the AHRC, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in a telephone interview from Hong Kong. “The people that are conducting these killings only need to ensure that the body of a person is never found to basically ensure that there are no effective investigations of any type into these events.”

Since the first case of a forced disappearance was documented in 1971 under the dictatorship of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, more than 1,800 people have been reported missing in the Philippines. Most are human rights advocates, leftist activists and labour laders.

Anthony said the issue of forced disappearance should be dealt with in the same urgency as political killings.

“The forced disappearance of even a single person is alarming,” he said. “While the killings are perhaps greater in number, forced disappearances are also a great concern, (especially with) the possibility of people still being alive when they disappeared.”

“We would hope that investigations would be able to find these people and surface them so to speak so that they are not killed,” added Anthony.

Portajada said the incidence of forced disappearances has again worsened since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power in 2001.

According to the local human rights group Karapatan, there are already 186 victims of forced disappearances in the past five years under Arroyo, up from just about 60 cases in eight years prior to 2001.

Increasing abductions

The increasing number of abductions coincide with the spate of extra-judicial killings that have been condemned by various international and local groups, including foreign chambers of commerce and businesses.

While Arroyo has denounced the current level of political violence in the country, her administration has also belittled warnings of a worsening human-rights situation in the country as mere propaganda by communist rebels.

The government has even tried to shift blame away from the military and police, the main suspects in the attacks, even before a police task force and a local civilian fact-finding commission complete their investigations.

“It is unfortunate that many extremist groups who are against the government are taking advantage of the situation to purge their ranks and kill innocent people,” presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a recent statement.

“It is equally unfortunate that it appears that rogue elements of the police or military have decided to take the law into their own hands,” he added.

Despite such attempts to clear soldiers and policemen, families of victims still believe that government security forces are conducting the abductions and killings as part of a systematic campaign to eliminate opposition to the government, especially critics belonging to leftist groups.

And this is exactly what Dee Batnag Ayroso tells her two children - an 11-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl - when they ask about their father, Honorio, a leftist activist missing since February 2002.

“I tell them that he was abducted by the military,” she said. “If they ask why, I tell them that because their father is an activist, and he exposes what the government is doing. It is clear to them that we have to fight what this government is doing.”

Ayroso, 38, said her husband was organizing for the leftist party-list group Bayan Muna when he and another activist Johnny Orcino were forcibly taken by gunmen in the northern province of Nueva Ecija.

A witness to the abduction has since gone into hiding, and no investigation was ever conducted into the disappearance.

It was not the first time for Honorio to be taken. In 1989, when he was still a student, he was seized with nine other colleagues by soldiers, who allegedly tortured them for 10 days before they were charged in court for allegedly being communist rebels.

Honorio and his nine colleagues were all later acquitted and released.

But Ayroso expressed fears that her husband would not be as lucky this time.

“When I recall his stories about his first abduction, the torture, then I remembered what he told me then that if he was taken again, he will no longer come out alive,” she said, her voice cracking and her eyes welling with tears.

“While I may know that maybe he is no longer coming back, it is difficult to accept that he is already dead,” she added.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you regarding the enforced disappearance of four persons and the brutal torture of two others--one of whom was found dead in separate incidents in Mindanao on August and October 2006. This is yet another incident of pattern of abduction and subsequent disappearance perpetrated by unidentified armed men riding in getaway vans without license plate numbers.

According to information received from human rights group Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP-Mindanao), on August 28 three men, namely Ali Barabato (29), Ismael Sarip (or Orak) (29) and Datu Abubakar (or Jojo), allegedly members of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), were believed to have been abducted by military forces. It was around 10am when the three victims were seen by a witness near a stall of used clothing in Lizada, Boulevard, Davao City.

According to a witness identified as Bapa or Uncle, three victims arrived at the stall after riding on a passenger vehicle. He said that one of the victims, Ali Barabato, greeted him. He later noticed a man wearing a white t-shirt and jeans had called-up Ali and his two companions. The three victims were last seen inside a tinted white L-300 van together with the person who called them up.

Three days after the three went missing, on August 31, one of the victims, Ali Barabato, was found dead along the shoreline in Barangay (village) Aumbay, Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte. It was a news report that led to the family’s discovery of the victim’s body. They then rushed to the funeral parlor where the victim’s wife, Alma, confirmed the body was that of her husband. He was identified by a mole on the forehead.

According to Alma her husband’s body bore traces of brutal torture. His hands were tied behind his back with wire. His body and his legs were also wrapped with it. He also had a gunshot wound at the upper section of his forehead and three gunshot wounds on his neck.

In another case, on October 19, another person attached to a Kalagan tribe, Cadir Malaydan, was abducted and forcibly disappeared. Cadir was with his wife Sitti riding on a motorcycle on their way home. It was around 10:45am when they notice that a color green L-300 van was tailing at them along Purok 1, Barangay (village) Poblacion highway, Monkayo, Compostela Valley. The place of incident is located close to two adjacent police outposts.

According to Sitti, when they come close to the van that later stopped at the roadside, the van’s doors suddenly opened and four persons wearing bonnets, some in fatigue uniforms and others in civilian clothes, suddenly emerged and dragged her husband towards their van. The armed men aimed their weapons at the couple telling them to halt. Two of whom were armed with M-16 rifles while the others had .45 caliber pistols.

Sitti recounted that the armed men forced her husband towards the van. During the scuffle, Sitti fell to the ground. She saw her husband being forced sit inside the flooring of the get away van. When she tried to get up to follow her husband, another man hooded with bonnet and clad in fatigue pants immediately restrained her. An armalite rifle was also aimed at her. She was instead told to run instead but she ignored him. Minutes later, the van sped off towards an unknown direction.

On October 22, another former member of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Edgar Sabdula (36), was forcibly abducted inside his residence in Purok 1, Uyanguren, Tigatto, Buhangin District, Davao City. It was about 12:15 midnight when unidentified number perpetrators wearing combat shoes, hooded with bonnets and armed with long firearms barged into their house. At the time, the perpetrators used three vehicles: an L-300 van colored blue, white and unidentified one, without plate numbers. Sabdula had two children. His wife Haide was present during the incident. His whereabouts remained unknown to date.

On October 24, an Arabic teacher, Ustadz Habib Darupo (or Sonny), went missing for a night after he was forcibly abducted near a public market in the Municipality of Banaybanay, Davao Oriental. It was around 4pm when Ustadz Darupo was riding on his motorcycle together with his companion, Rahim. They had just finished attending the caravan for celebration of the Ed’l Fit’r when attacked by armed men hooded with bonnets.

Ustadz Darupo and Rahim were on their way to the market when a color gray L-300 van blocked their way. Four persons wearing bonnets alighted from the van and forcibly took Ustadz Darupo. One of the perpetrators was armed with an M-16 rifle. Rahim was able to escape as he ran fast. Although Ustadz Darupo briefly managed to break loose, but his feet fell into a canal. One of the armed men caught up with him, pulled his head and hit his two arms. He was dragged towards the van. His feet were tied with a rope and blindfolded with packing tape.

While inside the van, he was brutally tortured while being interrogated as to the whereabouts of a certain Ustadz Hamid. The victim’s driver’s license, identification card and Seiko diving watch was taken from him. After about 30 minutes, Ustadz Darupo sensed that the tire of the vehicle exploded and he was transferred to another vehicle. The victim revealed to his brother that he was tortured for about three hours inside the van blindfolded.

On the following day, October 25, at around 11am, Ustadz Darupo, was released in Tagum City. He was blindfolded while in the perpetrator’s custody. After he was disembarked from the van, he was told not to stand. After several minutes his blindfold removed but he was not able to see who his abductors were because they already left. His wallet was left with P200 peso bill, which he used to pay for his transportation in going home.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned agencies for their intervention to ensure that an immediate and impartial investigation is conducted into these cases. All means must be exhausted to locate the whereabouts of disappeared victims namely Ismael Sarip, Datu Abubakar, Edgar Sabdula and Cadir Malaydan. Their respective families must be actively involved in any investigations or actions taken by concerned agencies. The perpetrators into the killing of Ali Barabato must be identified by way of conducting effective forensic investigations. Immediate and appropriate intervention must also be afforded to Ustadz Habib Darupo. He must likewise be afforded with adequate medical and counseling assistance for the trauma he experienced.

Please also urge the Department of Justice (DoJ) for them to seriously consider affording protection and security to the witnesses and relatives of the victims as provided by Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act (RA 6981). This is very essential to effectively prosecute these cases.

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample letter:

Dear __________,

PHILIPPINES: Disappearance of four persons; one of two torture victims found dead in separate incidents in Mindanao

Case 2:
Name of disappeared victim: Cadir Malaydan
Alleged perpetrators: four persons wearing bonnets, some in fatigue uniforms and others in civilian clothes riding on L-300 van
Place of incident: along Purok 1, Barangay (village) Poblacion highway, Monkayo, Compostela Valley
Date of incident: October 19, 2006 at around 10:45am

Case 3:
Name of disappeared victim: Edgar Sabdula (36)
Alleged perpetrators: unidentified number persons wearing combat shoes, hooded with bonnets and armed with long firearms
Place of incident: Purok 1, Uyanguren, Tigatto, Buhangin District, Davao City
Date of incident: October 22, 2006 at around 12:15 midnight

Case 4:
Name of disappeared victim: Ustadz Habib Darupo (or Sonny) (29)
Alleged perpetrators: Four armed men hooded with bonnets and riding on a color gray L-300 van
Place of incident: near a public market in Municipality of Banaybanay, Davao Oriental
Date of incident: October 24, 2006 at around 4pm

I am writing to once again express my deep concern to a number of cases of disappearances, extra-judicial killings and torture mentioned above in separate incidents on August and October 2006.

I am aware that these are the latest incidents of shocking targeted abduction and killings, in particular against the Muslim minority in Mindanao. Of particular concern is the killing of Ali Barabato following his abduction on 28 August 2006. He was found dead with brutal torture marks and gunshot wounds all over his body while his two companions remain missing.

Two other victims, Cadir Malaydan and Edgar Sabdula, were likewise remained missing following their forcible abduction on October 19 and 22 respectively. I am aware that this is yet another incident of forcible abduction and disappearance perpetrated by armed men riding on get away vans. Most of those reported cases of disappearances done in the past in this manner remain unsolved and the victims’ whereabouts remains unknown.

Although Ustadz Habib Darupo has been released following his forcible abduction and brutal torture while in the perpetrator’s custody on October 24, I am extremely disappointed of the absence of intervention for him and his family. Not only he did suffer severe trauma and fear following his horrible experience, he and his family too faces extreme risks. This is the same with Sitti, wife of disappeared victim Cadir Malaydan. When Malaydan was attacked and forcibly abducted by his perpetrators, Sitti was with her husband during the incident.

It is extremely disappointing that despite the urgent need for protection and security to the witnesses, victims and their families, immediate impartial investigation on this matter, the government is failing to meet this objective. If there was any, it actually did not benefit the victims and their families in real practice. The truth is: victims are still missing, and their families have had to endure continuing risks of their lives locating their loved ones.

It is therefore necessary for the government, in particular the Philippine National Police (PN), Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to ensure that impartial and effective investigation is conducted in these cases. Effective investigation means that the findings and evidences gathered are strong to identify, arrest and prosecute the perpetrators in court. It is also required that witnesses and families of the victims are given adequate protection. Unless these conditions are effectively acted upon, possibility of seeking justice is denied to victims.

Given this latest incidents of enforced disappearance and torture, I am once again urging you to pressure the Philippine government to pass an enabling law to criminalize acts of enforced disappearance and torture in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The absence of an enabling law in seeking justice and redress, as in this case, is a manifestation of the denial of Constitutional rights to victims and their families.